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HOME  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
OF  MODERN  KNOWLEDGE 

No.  7 

Editors  : 

HERBERT    FISHER,  M.A.,  F.B.A. 
Prop.  GILBERT  MURRAY,  Litt.D., 

LL.D.,  F.B.A. 
Prop.  J.   ARTHUR    THOMSON,  M.A. 
Prof.  WILLIAM  T.  BREWSTE*,  M.A. 


A  complete  classified  list  of  the  volumes  of  Thb 
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MODERN 
G  EOGRA  PHY 


BY 

(Miss)  MARION  I.  NEWBIGIN 

D.Sc.    (Lond.) 

EDITOR    OF    THE    SCOTTISH    GEOGRAPHICAL    MAGAZINE 


NEW  YORK 
HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 

LONDON 
WILLIAMS  AND  NORGATE 
O  -i   0  0*7 


5  1  «J  *w  4 


Copyright,  1911, 

BY 

HENRY    HOLT   AND    COMPANY 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I    The  Beginnings  of  Modern  Geography    .    .  7 

II    Surface-Relief  and  the  Process  of  Erosion  19 

III  Ice  and  its  Work 51 

IV  Climate  and  Weather 82 

V    The    Principles    of    Plant    Geography   and 
the  Chief  Plant  Formations  of   Europe 

and  North  America 112 

VI    The  Distribution  of  Animal  Life    ....  143 

VII    Cultivated    Plants    and    Domesticated   Ani- 
mals    168 

VIII    The  Races  of  Europe  and  their  Origin  .     .  196 

IX    The  Distribution  of  Minerals  and  the  Local- 
isation of  Industries  and  of  Towns    .     .  219 

Notes  on  Books 249 

Index 251 


MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

CHAPTER  I 

THE   BEGINNINGS   OF   MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

In  the  year  1859  there  occurred  three 
events  which,  though  not  all  comparable 
to  one  another,  yet  make  the  year  one  of 
such  importance  that  we  may  take  it  as 
marking  the  beginning  of  the  distinctively 
modern  period  of  geographical  science.  These 
three  events  were,  first,  the  deaths  of  Hum- 
boldt and  Ritter,  two  great  geographical 
pioneers  who  hewed  tracks  through  the 
tangled  jungle  of  unsystematised  geographical 
facts,  and  second,  the  publication  of  the 
Origin  of  Species,  by  Charles  Darwin,  a  book 
which  supplied  the  compass  which  has  made 
further  road-making  in  that  same  jungle 
possible.  In  other  words,  as  a  result  of  the 
life-work  of  the  two  great  geographers  named, 
and  of  the  throwing  by  Charles  Darwin  of 
7 


8  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

a  new  ferment  into  the  mass  of  contemporary 
thought,  what  had  been  a  mere  collection 
of  facts  began  to  be  a  reasoned  and  ordered 
science.  Both  Humboldt  and  Ritter  lived 
to  a  great  age,  so  that  at  the  time  of  their 
deaths  not  only  was  their  work  done,  but 
there  had  been  time  also  for  their  influence 
to  permeate  the  literature  of  the  subject. 

Humboldt  was,  above  all,  a  great  traveller, 
but  he  was  also  a  man  of  science  in  the  largest 
sense,  interested  not  in  one  group  of  facts, 
but  in  many.  The  extent  of  his  knowledge 
and  the  breadth  of  his  interests  enabled  him 
to  observe  a  vast  number  of  phenomena 
while  his  particular  genius  was  manifest  in 
the  way  in  which  he  correlated  these,  and 
considered  them  in  their  relation  to  each 
other.  Though  it  is  true  that  his  influence 
was  most  direct  in  the  case  of  natural  history, 
yet  in  this  respect  also  he  pointed  to  the 
future,  for  the  geographers  of  to-day  are  in- 
debted to  the  naturalists  for  some  of  their 
finest  generalisations. 

Ritter  was  a  great  teacher,  the  prototype 
of  those  who  alike  by  their  personal  influence 
and  by  their  books  have  enriched  geograph- 
ical science  within  the  last  fifty  years.  He 
had  not  Humboldt's  breadth  of  knowledge 


BEGINNINGS  OF  GEOGRAPHY        9 

and  interest,  but  in  the  stress  which  he  laid 
upon  the  earth  as  above  all  interesting  in 
that  it  is  the  field  of  the  activity  of  man,  he 
emphasised  an  aspect  of  the  subject  in  which 
perhaps  the  most  interesting  modern  devel- 
opments have  taken  place. 

Darwin  had  a  twofold  effect  upon  the 
progress  of  geography.  In  the  first  place,  in 
his  detailed  work,  e.  g.  in  connection  with 
coral  reefs,  and  with  the  distribution  of  ani- 
mals, and  less  directly  in  his  investigation  of 
the  part  played  by  earthworms  in  the  forma- 
tion of  soil,  he  himself  added  to  geographical 
knowledge.  But  he  did  much  more  than 
this.  The  doctrine  of  evolution  which  he 
made  common  property  has  had  and  is  having 
an  enormous  effect  upon  geographical  science, 
both  directly  and  indirectly. 

As  is  well  known,  in  connection  with  his 
own  theory  of  the  cause  of  evolution,  Darwin 
laid  great  stress  upon  the  "Struggle  for 
Existence."  But  he  himself  expressly  stated 
that  he  used  the  term  in  a  "large  and  meta- 
phorical sense,"  a  sense  which  in  popular 
language  it  has  tended  to  lose.  From  the 
geographer's  standpoint,  therefore,  it  is  better 
to  say  that  Darwin's  work  has  added  a  new 
interest  to  the  study  of  interrelations.    Hum- 


10  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

boldt,  as  we  have  indicated,  was  greatly 
interested  in  such  subjects  as  the  connection 
between  the  climate  of  a  region  and  the  vege- 
tation, between  the  activities  of  man  in  a 
particular  region  and  the  physical  conditions, 
and  so  on.  But  Darwin  added  a  new  interest 
to  such  studies.  For  example,  it  is  a  curious 
fact  that  desert  plants  have  often  spiny 
leaves,  long  roots,  and  so  forth,  and  it  is 
interesting  to  note  how  these  peculiarities  fit 
the  plants  for  life  in  an  arid  climate.  But 
when  Darwin  showed  that  there  was  evidence 
that  the  physical  conditions  of  the  desert 
gave  rise  to  certain  types  of  vegetation,  it 
became  worth  while  to  study  both  the 
physical  conditions  and  the  characters  of 
the  plants  in  much  greater  detail  than 
before.    . 

If  we  simply  lay  it  down  as  an  axiom  that, 
e.  g.  cactuses  live  in  deserts,  the  fact  has 
only  a  moderate  interest,  but  when  we  find 
that  almost  any  natural  group  of  plants,  if 
exposed  through  long  ages  to  gradually  in- 
creasing conditions  of  drought,  will  produce 
"cactus"  types,  then  the  whole  subject 
acquires  new  importance.  This  illustration 
2iay  serve  to  suggest  what  Darwin  has  done 
for  geography. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  GEOGRAPHY      11 

He  showed  that  there  is  a  delicately  ad- 
justed balance  between  organisms  and  their 
surroundings,  taken  in  their  widest  sense. 
But  geology  proves  that  through  the  ages 
there  have  been  constant,  if  slight,  changes 
in  the  physical  conditions,  and  the  effort  of 
the  organisms  to  readjust  the  balance  thus 
disturbed  has  led  to  evolution.  Thus  to 
some  extent  at  least  the  characters  of  organ- 
isms can  be  explained  by  the  nature  of  their 
surroundings.  A  further  interest  is  added 
by  the  fact  that  in  this  respect  human  soci- 
eties and  settlements  can  be  shown  to  behave 
like  organisms.  Therefore  we  can  hope  to 
explain  at  least  partially  the  manifold  differ- 
ences in  man  and  his  societies  in  different 
parts  of  the  globe  by  the  minor  differences  in 
physical  conditions.  In  other  words,  the 
doctrine  of  evolution  has  added  a  unifying 
and  co-ordinating  principle  which  has  not 
only  prevented  geography  from  being  crushed 
by  the  enormous  recent  increase  in  known 
facts,  but  has  also  for  the  first  time  raised  it 
to  the  level  of  a  science. 

This  addition  of  a  co-ordinating  principle 
may  be  said  to  be  the  direct  effect  of  the 
publication  of  the  Origin  of  Species,  but 
there  hap  been  an  indirect  effect  almost  as 


12  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

important.  The  principles  enunciated  in 
that  book  had  a  stimulating  effect,  not  upon 
one  science  only  but  upon  every  department 
of  thought.  Phenomena  of  no  importance 
suddenly  became  interesting,  and  the  result 
of  this  interest  was  an  enormous  addition  to 
known  facts.  Not  only  has  research  been 
stimulated  in  every  direction,  but  as  this 
research  has  been  largely  directed  by  the 
desire  to  discover  the  interrelation  of  phe- 
nomena, we  find  that  many  of  the  old  barriers 
between  the  sciences  are  breaking  down. 

The  botanists  are  no  longer  content  to 
study  the  facts  of  plant  distribution ;  they  now 
want  to  be  able  to  give  reasons  for  particular 
distributions.  Therefore  they  must  seek  the 
aid  of  the  meteorologists  to  explain  differ- 
ences of  climate;  of  the  physical  geographer 
to  make  clear  the  effects  of  relief,  of  differ- 
ences of  soil,  and  of  drainage;  of  the  cartog- 
rapher to  represent  the  facts  which  emerge 
from  their  surveys,  and  so  on.  The  physician 
must  now  seek  the  assistance  of  the  zoologist 
before  he  can  deal  adequately  with  tropical 
disease,  and  the  zoologist  must  have  the 
help  of  the  physical  geographer  before  he 
can  give  adequate  aid.  The  result  is  that 
in  all  directions  geography  is  being  enriched 


BEGINNINGS  OF  GEOGRAPHY      13 

by  facts  brought  from  the  collateral  sciences, 
while  at  the  same  time  its  position  as  a 
central  unifying  science  is  becoming  more 
and  more  established;  as  a  science  which  can 
deal  with  all  these  varied  facts,  but  deal 
with  them  from  a  standpoint  peculiarly  its 
own. 

At  the  present  time,  geography  may  be 
compared  to  one  of  Rodin's  statues  in 
which  we  see  a  beautiful  figure  as  it  were 
struggling  to  escape  from  the  marble  in  which 
it  is  imprisoned.  So  the  geography  of  to-day 
is  in  the  act  of  escaping  from  the  matrix  of 
mere  facts  in  which  it  has  been  too  long 
imprisoned.  It  is  now  displaying  itself  as 
a  great  unity  in  the  making  of  which  all  the 
sciences  have  played  their  part. 

But  even  in  this  general  survey  of  recent 
developments  two  other  sets  of  facts  must 
be  touched  upon.  We  have  given  fifty  years 
as  the  period  within  which  most  of  what  is 
distinctively  modern  in  geography  has  de- 
veloped. It  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
within  the  same  period  there  has  been  a 
remarkable  renewal  of  interest  in  geographi- 
cal exploration.  Roughly  speaking,  within 
this  period  Africa  has  ceased  to  be  an  un- 
known continent;  the  innermost  recesses  of 


14  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

Asia  have  been  largely  explored ;  the  Arctic  and 
Antarctic  areas  have  yielded  many,  though 
by  no  means  the  whole,  of  their  secrets;  a 
great  deal  of  exploration  has  been  done  in 
America  as  a  whole,  as  well  as  much  detailed 
survey  work  in  the  United  States  and  Canada; 
the  oceans  have  been  investigated  by  succes- 
sive series  of  expeditions.  Generally  it  may 
be  said  that  in  its  broad  outlines  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  world  has  been  completed,  so 
that  geographical  science  is  free  to  pass  from 
the  mere  collection  of  raw  material  to  the 
higher  task  of  arranging,  classifying,  and 
making  deductions,  as  well  as  to  the  more 
detailed  surveys  which  are  still  necessary. 

The  other  point  of  interest  is  that  the  last 
fifty  years  have  seen  an  enormous  increase 
in  the  facilities  for  travel,  a  fact  which  has 
led  to  a  great  increase  in  the  number  of 
people  to  whom  geography  appeals.  The 
decade  between  1830  and  1840  saw  the  be- 
ginning of  two  great  series  of  guide-books, 
Murray's  Handbooks  and  Baedeker's  Guides, 
whose  importance  for  the  travelling  public 
can  hardly  be  over-estimated.  The  first 
"Baedeker"  was  a  little  guide  to  the  Rhine, 
and  since  it  was  first  published  this  firm  of 
publishers  has  not  only  extended  its  field  of 


BEGINNINGS  OF  GEOGRAPHY      15 

operations  over  nearly  the  whole  world, 
but  has  issued  a  constant  stream  of  new 
editions,  which  for  the  most  frequented 
tourist  regions  are  practically  annual.  That 
great  tourist  agency  whose  name  is  now  a 
household  word  began  operations  in  the  early 
forties,  and  like  the  firm  of  Baedeker  has 
now  taken  the  world  as  its  sphere  of  action. 
We  may  say,  then,  that  during  the  course  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  travel,  previously 
a  pastime  of  the  rich,  was  brought  within 
the  reach  of  very  moderate  purses.  This 
democratisation  of  travel  is  still  going  on, 
and  in  certain  recent  visits  of  British  working 
men  to  Germany  and  elsewhere  we  may 
perhaps  see  the  beginning  of  a  process 
which  will  eventually  bring  some  amount 
of  journeying  abroad  within  the  reach  of 
all. 

As  yet  the  effect  upon  geography  of  this  in- 
crease in  travelling  has  been  chiefly  to  en- 
hance popular  interest  in  the  science,  rather 
than  to  enrich  it,  for  the  vast  majority  of 
"popular"  travel  books  have  added  little,  if 
anything,  to  the  sum  total  of  knowledge.  But 
this  is  partly  because  geographical  teaching 
has  hitherto  been  badly  organised,  and  the 
greater  number  of  travellers  have  started  on 


16  MODERN  GEOGRAPHYj\ 

their  journeys  without  having  been  taught 
what  to  observe  or  how  to  observe.  There 
are  already  indications  that  this  condition  of 
affairs  is  passing  away,  and  that  the  traveller 
of  the  future  will  start  better  equipped,  and 
will  demand  in  his  guide-books  a  new  point 
of  view.  Starting  from  a  higher  level  he  will 
bring  back  more  from  his  travels. 

Meantime  it  should  be  noted  that  some 
knowledge  of  the  generalisations  laid  down 
by  geographers  during  the  course  of  the  last 
half  century  adds  enormously  to  the  interest 
of  travel,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  that 
for  this  reason,  if  for  no  other,  geography  is 
worth  study  by  all. 

In  the  following  chapters  we  shall  look, 
so  far  as  possible,  at  those  aspects  of  the 
subject  which  make  the  widest  appeal,  and 
which  are  best  fitted  to  enable  the  ordinary 
man  to  understand  his  surroundings,  what- 
ever they  may  be,  and  so  aid  him  in  that 
delicate  task  of  adjustment  which,  consciously 
or  unconsciously,  is  the  task  of  every  living 
thing.  As  limitations  of  space  involve  a 
similar  limitation  of  subject-matter,  it  has 
been  thought  best  to  lay  most  stress  upon  the 
conditions  which  prevail  in  Europe  and  North 
America,  the  areas  which  have  been  most 


BEGINNINGS  OF  GEOGRAPHY      17 

thoroughly  studied.  Europe  has  the  special 
interest  that  it  has  given  origin  to  the  type 
of  civilisation  which  has  most  profoundly 
modified  the  earth's  surface.  This  limita- 
tion cannot,  however,  be  made  rigid,  for  it 
is  of  the  essence  of  the  modern  standpoint 
that  no  area  can  be  understood  without 
reference  to  the  world  at  large.  The  geog- 
raphy of  Europe  no  less  than  of  North 
America  is  determined  by  the  position  of 
the  respective  continents  on  the  surface  of 
the  globe,  and  cannot  be  understood  without 
a  consideration  of  this  position  and  its  im- 
plications. The  standpoint  adopted  here  is 
frankly  anthropological,  that  is,  the  world  is 
considered  as  the  home  of  man,  its  physical 
peculiarities  being  regarded  as  interesting 
chiefly  in  their  relation  to  man  and  his 
activities. 

Finally,  we  may  note  that  the  development 
of  the  subject  within  recent  years  has  been 
such  that  it  is  quite  impossible,  even  within 
the  limitations  already  laid  down,  to  give 
a  complete  survey  of  the  subject.  All  that 
will  be  attempted,  therefore,  is  to  suggest 
some  of  the  lines  along  which  research  is 
proceeding  most  actively  at  the  present  time, 
special  stress  being  laid  upon  those  aspects 


18  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

of  the  subject  which  are  not  as  yet  fully 
treated  in  the  smaller  text-books.  The  list 
of  books  of  reference  at  the  end  will,  it  is 
hoped,  enable  those  interested  to  fill  in  the 
blanks  which  such  a  scheme  necessarily 
leaves. 


CHAPTER  II 

SURFACE-RELIEF   AND    THE   PROCE88   OF 
EROSION 

It  is  not  necessary  here  to  consider  the 
various  formal  definitions  of  geography  which 
have  been  proposed  in  the  last  few  years.  As 
is  only  natural  with  a  developing  subject, 
much  discussion  has  taken  place  as  to  the  ex- 
act limits  of  its  field  of  action,  and  many  defi- 
nitions have  been  proposed  with  the  object  of 
setting  forth  these  limits  as  clearly  as  possible. 
But  it  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  note  that 
geography  deals  with  the  surface-relief  of  the 
earth,  and  with  the  influence  which  that 
relief  exercises  upon  the  distribution  of  other 
phenomena,  and  especially  upon  the  life  of 
man.  Before  we  proceed  to  study  detailed 
problems,  then,  it  is  obviously  necessary  to 
look  at  some  general  points  connected  with 
the  relief  of  the  earth's  surface  and  its  causes. 

In  the  words  of  the  physical  geographer, 

19 


20  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

the  earth's  surface  consists  of  the  solid  crust, 
or  lithosphere,  of  the  mass  of  water  forming 
the  seas  and  oceans  and  constituting  the 
hydrosphere,  and  of  that  envelope  of  gas 
which  we  call  the  atmosphere.  Considered 
separately,  each  of  these  is  the  concern  of 
special  sciences,  and  not  of  the  geographer 
proper.  His  business  it  is  to  take  the  facts 
furnished  by  the  meteorologists,  the  physi- 
cists, the  geologists,  and  so  forth,  and  with 
these  facts  in  hand  to  proceed  to  consider  the 
effect  of  the  interaction  of  earth  and  water 
and  air  in  a  way  which  the  separate  sciences 
cannot  do.  We  must  further  note  that  it  is 
the  interactions  of  these  three  which  make 
the  earth  a  possible  home  for  life  as  we  know 
it,  and  it  is  these  interactions  therefore  which 
influence  the  distribution  of  life  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  globe. 

There  may  have  been  a  period  when  the 
crust  of  the  earth  was  clothed  in  a  uniform 
sheet  of  water,  just  as  the  globe  is  now 
enveloped  in  a  complete  covering  of  air,  but 
at  present,  as  through  the  long  ages  of  geo- 
logical time,  the  lithosphere  consists  of  eleva- 
tions and  hollows,  and  it  is  in  the  hollows  that 
the  water  accumulates,  so  that  we  can  dis- 
tinguish between  the  dry  land  and  the  ocean 


SURFACE-RELIEF  21 

beds.  Both  chemically  and  physically  the 
fluid  hydrosphere  differs  markedly  from  the 
solid  lithosphere,  and  it  is,  above  all,  the 
physical  differences  which  are  of  supreme 
importance  to  the  geographer.  Because  of 
them  sea  and  land  respond  differently  to  the 
stream  of  solar  energy  which  pours  down  upon 
our  globe,  and  it  is  this  different  response 
which  is  the  predominating  factor  in  the 
production  of  the  different  climates,  which 
again  determine  in  its  main  outlines  the  dis- 
tribution of  living  organisms. 

This  being  so,  it  is  clear  that  it  is  of  great 
importance  to  the  geographer  to  know  exactly 
the  distribution  of  land  and  water  over  the 
surface  of  the  earth.  As  the  North  Polar 
regions  are  still  inadequately  known,  and  the 
South  Polar  regions  hardly  known  at  all,  we 
cannot  as  yet  determine  exactly  this  distribu- 
tion, but  any  globe  will  show  that  land  and 
ocean  are  very  unequally  distributed.  The 
great  land  masses  cluster  round  the  North 
Pole,  while  the  southern  hemisphere  consists 
largely  of  water.  We  thus  have  a  land 
hemisphere  and  a  water  one.  According  to 
recent  calculations  the  oceans  occupy  some 
72  per  cent,  of  the  entire  surface  of  the  globe, 
leaving  only  28  per  cent,  of  land.    But  while 


22  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

in  the  northern  hemisphere  there  is  about  one 
and  a  half  times  more  water  than  land,  in  the 
southern  there  is  about  six  times  more  water, 
both  figures  being  liable  to  error,  as  indicated 
above,  owing  to  our  uncertainty  as  to  the 
land  and  water  of  the  Polar  zones. 

This  distribution  is  of  great  importance  in 
connection  with  certain  theories  as  to  the 
actual  plan  of  the  earth,  but  this  is  a  difficult 
subject  which  need  not  concern  us  here. 
It  is  discussed  in  Prof.  J.  W.  Gregory's 
volume  on  The  Making  of  the  Earth. 
More  interesting  is  the  effect  which  the 
arrangement  of  land  and  water  has  had  upon 
that  part  of  the  life  of  the  earth  which  was 
evolved  in  late  geological  time.  Though 
the  geographer  for  convenience'  sake  recog- 
nizes three  separate  continents  in  the  Old 
World — Europe,  Asia  and  Africa — yet  these 
form  practically  one  land  mass,  which  in  its 
turn  approaches  America  very  nearly  at 
Bering  Straits,  and,  less  nearly,  in  the 
North  Atlantic  through  the  intervention  of 
the  British  Isles,  the  Faeroes,  Iceland,  Green- 
land, etc.  The  centre  of  this  land  mass 
lies  in  Europe,  a  point  not  without  its 
importance. 

In  this  great  land  mass  of  the  northern 


SURFACE-RELIEF  23 

hemisphere  life  has  reached  its  highest  degree 
of  development,  both  as  regards  animal  form 
and  as  regards  human  societies.  It  was  in 
the  northern  hemisphere  that  the  highest 
mammals,  the  placentals,  arose.  There  are 
many  remarkable  resemblances  between  the 
faunas  of  Europe,  of  Asia  and  of  Africa, 
and  a  similar,  if  less  marked,  resemblance 
between  those  of  North  America  on  the 
one  hand  and  of  Europe  and  temperate  Asia 
on  the  other.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
two  great  land  masses  which  occur  in  the 
southern  hemisphere,  South  America  and 
Australia,  show  very  marked  differences  in 
their  fauna,  both  from  each  other  and  from 
the  northern  land  masses,  and  in  both  cases 
the  fauna  has  a  primitive  aspect,  which  is  best 
marked  in  Australia. 

When  we  come  to  consider  man,  somewhat 
similar  conditions  present  themselves.  The 
great  civilisations  developed  in  the  land  mass 
of  the  Old  World,  though  the  waterless  desert 
of  the  Sahara  cut  off  much  of  Africa  from 
participation  in  them.  America  developed  a 
relatively  high  civilisation  of  its  own,  but  as 
the  icefields  and  ice-pack  of  the  north  formed 
a  greater  barrier  to  the  migrations  of  man 
than  to  those  of  the  northern  animals,  this 


24  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

American  civilisation  was  for  long  cut  off  from 
that  of  the  Old  World,  and  when  free  com- 
munication became  possible,  it  went  down 
before  that  of  the  eastern  world. 

We  must  connect  these  facts  directly  with 
the  peculiar  distribution  of  land  and  water 
in  the  northern  hemisphere,  which  made  free 
intercourse  possible,  alike  for  the  land  animals 
and  for  man.  The  importance  of  this  inter- 
course may  be  suggested  in  a  few  words. 
When  a  group  of  organisms  is  limited,  from 
whatever  cause,  to  a  particular  zone  of  the 
earth's  surface,  the  members  of  the  group 
tend  to  acquire  characters  fitting  them  for 
this  restricted  area.  But  if  the  area  is 
open,  constantly  or  periodically,  to  incur- 
sions of  organisms  from  adjacent  areas, 
then,  with  the  widening  of  the  environment, 
and  the  greater  intensity  of  the  struggle 
for  existence,  evolution  is  quickened  and  new 
characters  appear.  The  men  of  the  Eurasian 
continent  learnt,  on  the  fierce  battle-grounds 
of  that  continent,  lessons  which  enabled  them 
to  conquer  without  difficulty  the  more  iso- 
lated human  groups  of  the  southern  hemi- 
sphere. The  fact  that  they  took  south  with 
them  the  mammals  of  the  north,  who  also 
have  thriven  at  the  expense  of  the  native 


SURFACE-RELIEF  25 

forms,  shows  that  the  hold  of  the  southern 
animals  upon  their  habitat  was  no  less  pre- 
carious than  that  of  man  himself. 

One  other  point  is  worth  notice  in  connec- 
tion with  the  distribution  of  land  and  water 
over  the  surface  of  the  globe.  We  have  seen 
that  the  northern  hemisphere  is  the  region 
where  organic  evolution  has  been  most 
marked.  It  is,  as  it  were,  a  great  biological 
laboratory.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  south- 
ern hemisphere,  which  has  fewer  land  masses 
to  interfere  with  the  circulation  of  the  atmos- 
phere, many  physical  phenomena  occur"  in  a 
more  marked  and  orderly  fashion  than  to  the 
north.  The  westerly  winds  of  the  south  blow 
with  a  force  and  a  constancy  which  makes  it 
impossible  to  compare  them  with  the  more 
variable  westerlies  of  the  north.  Even  the 
ocean  currents  of  the  south  seem  to  show 
more  constancy  than  those  of  the  north.  If 
the  northern  hemisphere  is  a  great  biological 
laboratory,  the  southern  may  be  described  as 
a  physical  one,  and  one  of  the  great  interests 
of  the  further  exploration  of  the  Antarctic  is 
that  it  will  probably  cast  light  upon  some  im- 
portant meteorological  problems.  (See  Dr. 
W.  S.  Bruce's  volume  on  Polar  Exploration.) 


26  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

The  distribution  of  land  and  water,  with  all 
its  effects  on  climate  and  on  the  distribution 
of  life,  is,  as  we  have  seen,  caused  by  the  main 
features  of  the  relief  of  the  earth,  by  the  ex- 
istence of  vast  depressions  in  which  the  water 
accumulates,  and  of  relative  elevations  from 
which  it  flows.  But  the  minor  details  of 
relief,  hill  and  valley,  ocean  depth  and  conti- 
nental shelf,  are  also  important,  and  exercise 
a  very  marked  effect  upon  distribution.  They 
therefore  demand  in  their  turn  some  con- 
sideration. 

Taking  first  the  prime  distinction  between 
land  surface  and  ocean  floor,  we  note  that  the 
two  differ  from  one  another  markedly,  alike 
in  their  characteristics  and  in  the  conditions 
to  which  they  are  exposed.  The  land  is 
subjected  to  constantly  varying  conditions: 
to  the  alternation  of  day  and  night,  and  to 
the  changes  of  the  seasons,  with  correspond- 
ing variations  in  temperature;  to  the  fluctu- 
ations of  the  weather;  to  running  water,  and 
so  forth.  In  the  great  ocean  depths  at  least, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  conditions  are  remark- 
ably uniform.  Neither  diurnal  nor  seasonal 
changes  have  here  any  effect;  the  tempera- 
ture seems  to  fluctuate  but  little;  the  water 
is  almost  still.    This  uniformity  of  physical 


SURFACE-RELIEF  27 

conditions  is  reflected  in  the  uniformity  of 
the  surface  over  wide  areas.  While  the  land 
surface  shows  marked  irregularities,  the  ocean 
floor  has  a  monotonous  character,  with  more 
gentle  outlines. 

In  its  most  general  form  the  characters  of 
the  sea  bottom  may  be  briefly  stated.  Round 
the  great  land  masses  there  is  an  area  of  rela- 
tively shallow  water,  which  is  sometimes  only 
a  few  miles  wide,  and  at  other  times  extends 
outwards  for  hundreds  of  miles.  This  region 
is  the  Continental  Shelf,  and  its  seaward 
boundary  for  convenience'  sake  is  taken  at  a 
depth  of  100  fathoms,  or  600  feet.  Within 
this  zone  the  influence  of  the  land  is  still  felt, 
and  some  of  the  characters  of  land  surfaces 
appear.  Thus  we  sometimes  find  that  river 
valleys  are  prolonged  outwards  over  the 
Continental  Shelf,  giving  a  markedly  irregu- 
lar appearance  to  the  ocean  floor.  The 
British  Islands  lie  upon  a  Continental  Shelf 
of  this  kind,  and  this  is  one  of  our  reasons  for 
knowing  that  they  are  really  only  a  part  of 
the  continent  of  Europe,  separated  from  it 
by  a  slight  depression. 

The  Continental  Shelf  slopes  away  from 
the  land  gently,  and  is  widest  where  it  fringes 
low  continents,  and  narrowest  where  moun- 


28  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

tains  approach  the  coast.  Over  it  is  spread 
the  waste  of  the  land,  the  coarser  lying  near 
the  shore-line,  the  finer  extending  outwards 
to  the  steep  seaward  slope.  This  rapid  slope 
leads  down  to  the  more  or  less  uniform  ocean 
plateau,  whose  surface  is  broken  by  the  great 
ocean  abysses,  the  greatest  of  which  has  a 
depth  of  about  six  miles.  Relative  but  not 
absolute  uniformity  thus  characterises  all  that 
part  of  the  ocean  floor  which  lies  below  about 
100  fathoms. 

Again,  though  the  ocean  floor  is  doubtless 
being  slowly  raised  by  the  deposition  upon  it 
of  the  oceanic  oozes,  yet  it  is  also  true  that 
as  compared  with  the  land  surface  it  displays 
great  constancy.  While  the  land  surface  is 
constantly  changing  owing  to  the  varying 
forces  which  act  upon  it,  the  floor  of  the  ocean 
can  vary  but  little  from  age  to  age,  unless  it  is 
acted  upon  by  the  internal  forces  of  the  earth. 

Turn  now  to  the  land.  We  note  at  once  the 
two  characters  of  marked  irregularity  of 
surface,  and  of  changeableness.  The  change- 
ableness  is  due  to  the  forces  of  erosion  which 
act  upon  the  surface,  and  of  these  forces  the 
most  important  to  the  geographer  is  running 
water.  It  is  running  water,  aided  by  other 
agents,  which  carves  the  land  into  hill  and 


PROCESS  OF  EROSION  29 

valley,  which  produces  gorge  and  lake,  only 
ultimately  to  fill  up  the  lake  and  plane  away 
the  gorge.  It  is  running  water  which  spreads 
out  on  the  lower  ground  the  waste  of  the 
higher,  and  thus  prepares  the  way  for  the 
operations  of  man. 

The  result  of  the  long-continued  action  of 
the  varied  forces  of  erosion  must  necessarily 
be  to  reduce  the  surface  to  an  almost  level 
condition.  The  denuding  agents  first  pro- 
duce irregularities  and  then  finally  remove 
these,  until  the  whole  surface  is  once  again 
almost  level.  The  whole  globe  would  thus 
be  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  plain  were 
it  not  for  the  intervention  of  the  internal 
forces  which  raise  up  the  surface  anew  into 
folds,  or  which  produce  volcanoes  and  out- 
bursts of  molten  rock. 

This  constantly  repeated  series  of  changes 
may  be  said  to  be  chiefly  the  concern  of  the 
geologist,  especially  as  it  is  a  series  which 
has  repeated  itself  in  all  time.  But  it  is  to 
be  noted  that  at  various  parts  of  the  surface 
of  the  globe  at  the  present  time  every  stage 
in  the  process  occurs,  and  everywhere  the 
question  whether  a  particular  land  area  has 
been  exposed  for  a  relatively  long  or  for  a 
relatively  short  period  to  the  forces  of  ero- 


30  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

sion,  has  a  profound  influence  upon  life.  It 
is  therefore  important  for  the  geographer  to 
be  able  to  recognise  the  different  stages. 
This  he  cannot  hope  to  do  without  some  de- 
tailed knowledge  of  the  effects  of  erosion. 

Theoretically  every  land  surface  elevated 
above  sea-level  should  pass  through  what  has 
been  called  a  cycle  of  erosion.  There  should 
be  a  period  when  the  active  forces  are  work- 
ing upon  a  surface  as  yet  but  little  modified; 
this  is  the  period  called  by  analogy  youth.  At 
a  later  stage  the  drainage  has  been  well  estab- 
lished, and  the  rivers  run  in  broad  valleys, 
from  which  lakes  and  waterfalls  have  largely 
disappeared.  To  this  condition  the  term 
mature  has  been  applied.  At  a  still  later 
stage  the  land  surface  has  been  so  worn  by 
the  eroding  forces  that  the  whole  process  of 
erosion  is  slackened,  and  an  uplift  must  oc- 
cur before  the  erosive  forces  regain  their  lost 
strength.  This  is  the  so-called  "cycle  of 
normal  erosion,"  but  it  is  constantly  liable  to 
variations  due  to  local  crust  movements,  to 
changes  in  climate,  and  to  local  conditions, 
though  at  the  same  time  the  distinction  of 
the  various  stages  has  value  for  the  geogra- 
pher because  of  their  varying  effects  upon 
human  life.    It  is  necessary  for  us,  therefore, 


PROCESS  OF  EROSION  31 

to  consider  how  the  different  stages  may  be 
recognized,  and  how  the  forces  of  erosion 
act. 

Let  us  begin  our  study  of  erosion  by  a 
general  survey  of  the  striking  features  of  the 
earth's  surface  at  the  present  day.  We  know 
that  at  various  parts  of  the  surface  there  rise 
lofty  mountain  chains,  whose  summits  are 
often  permanently  snow-clad,  and  which, 
from  the  sharpness  of  their  forms  and  from 
the  masses  of  rock  rubbish  which  are  accumu- 
lating round  them,  have  obviously  only  been 
exposed  for  a  geologically  short  period  to  the 
action  of  the  atmosphere  and  of  running 
water.  When  examined  such  mountain  chains 
are  all  found  to  have  the  same  peculiari- 
ties of  internal  form,  the  rocks  composing 
them  being  elaborately  folded  and  fractured. 
Careful  investigation  has  convinced  geologists 
that  all  the  existing  great  chains  owe  their 
origin  to  a  series  of  earth  movements  which 
occurred  in  the  period  call  Tertiary,  that  is, 
in  the  third  of  the  great  geological  periods, 
the  one  immediately  preceding  that  in  which 
we  live. 

These  lofty  mountain  chains  of  Tertiary 
origin  are  most  familiar  in  the  great  series  of 
folds  which  appear  at  the  surface  to  form  the 


32  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

Pyrenees,  the  Alps,  the  Caucasus  and  the 
Himalayas,  but  the  Atlas  Mountains  belong 
to  the  same  series,  as  does  also  that  great 


Fig.  1. — The  main  points  in  regard  to  the  structure  of 
Europe.  The  shaded  areas  (1)  are  regions  of  ancient  rocks, 
much  folded  and  crumpled,  which  once  formed  mountain 
regions  but  are  now  mostly  worn  down  to  uplands.  The  lines 
(2)  show  the  regions  affected  by  Tertiary  folding,  largely  oc- 
cupied by  mountain  chains.  The  unshaded  areas  are  mostly 
plains  and  basins,  only  slightly  affected  by  folding,  and  made 
up  of  rocks  which  are  often  almost  horizontal. 

mountain  chain  which,  under  various  names, 
runs  down  the  western  coast  of  the  American 
continent. 


PROCESS  OF  EROSION  33 

As  already  indicated,  these  areas  are  recog- 
nised not  only  by  the  fact  that  there  appear 
at  the  surface  a  great  number  of  peaks  form- 
ing a  mountain  chain,  but  also  by  the  in- 
ternal structure,  the  characteristically  com- 
plex folding  of  the  rocks.  Now  outside  of 
these  recently  elevated  areas  in,  for  example, 
the  continent  of  Europe,  we  find  two  condi- 
tions. On  the  one  hand,  there  are  regions  of 
upland  type  but  with  rounded  and  smoothed 
forms,  which  are  sometimes  almost  reduced 
to  the  condition  of  a  plain.  Such  regions  oc- 
cur in  Ireland,  in  the  west  of  Great  Britain 
generally,  in  Brittany,  in  the  central  plateau 
of  France,  in  the  Ardennes,  in  Bohemia,  in 
the  central  plateau  of  Spain,  in  Scandinavia, 
and  so  forth.  Between  these  relatively  ele- 
vated areas  we  have  plains  and  low-lying 
river  basins,  such  as  the  London  basin,  the 
Paris  basin,  and  so  on.  When  the  rocks 
are  examined  in  both  cases  it  is  found  that  in 
the  basins  and  plains  the  rocks,  as  a  general 
rule,  are  only  slightly  inclined,  while  in  the 
uplands  and  plateaux  there  are  obvious  rem- 
nants of  folding,  and  the  rocks  are  of  ancient 
types,  not  relatively  modern  like  those  of  the 
Alps,  Himalayas,  etc.  (see  fig.  1). 

If,  then,  the  existing  mountain  chains  show 


84  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

complex  folding  in  their  constituent  rocks, 
and  though  geologically  but  of  yesterday 
have  been  already  deeply  affected  by  the  de- 
nuding agents,  must  we  not  suppose  that  the 
folded  and  contorted  uplands  of  Europe  and 
elsewhere  are  the  last  remnants  of  very  an- 
cient mountain  chains?  It  is  they  which 
form  the  framework  of  the  continents,  and 
by  their  wear  and  tear  the  low  grounds  have 
been  formed,  owing  to  the  filling  in  of  the 
great  gulfs  which  ran  between  the  old  moun- 
tain chains. 

We  may  elaborate  a  little  further  this  very 
interesting  subject.  Let  us  first  note  that  the 
geologists  group  the  rocks  composing  the 
earth's  crust  into  three  great  divisions.  We 
have,  first,  the  Primary  rocks,  which  are  the 
oldest,  and  include  as  their  most  generally 
interesting  member  the  Carboniferous  rocks, 
with  their  coal-bearing  beds,  so  important 
in  the  modern  industrial  world.  Second,  we 
have  the  Secondary  beds,  the  most  interest- 
ing members  of  which  is  the  Chalk,  so  well- 
developed  in  parts  of  England  and  France. 
Finally,  the  Tertiary  series  includes  the  rocks 
of  the  period  immediately  preceding  that  in 
which  the  first  undoubted  remains  of  man 
occur. 


PROCESS  OF  EROSION  35 

Each  of  these  periods  was  of  enormous 
length,  and  the  labours  of  successive  genera- 
tions of  geologists  have  brought  to  light,  at 
least  in  broad  outline,  the  general  appearance 
of  the  globe  in  so  far  as  affected  by  the  distri- 
bution of  land  and  water,  and  the  main  earth 
movements,  in  each  separate  period.  Thus 
we  know  that  during  that  long  period  of 
time  which  is  included  in  the  Primary  epoch, 
very  extensive  earth  movements,  resulting 
in  extensive  folding  and  mountain  formation, 
took  place.  The  geologists  distinguish  no  less 
than  three  separate  periods  of  folding  in  Pri- 
mary times.  It  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  con- 
sider these  in  detail;  their  total  result  was  to 
produce  the  mountain  regions  whose  worn- 
down  stumps  now  form  those  uplands  which 
we  have  described  in  Europe.  But  they  do 
not  occur  in  Europe  alone.  That  vast  and 
relatively  infertile  area  in  Eastern  Canada 
which  geologists  call  the  Canadian  Shield  is 
a  region  of  very  old  rocks,  once  folded  into  a 
mountain  region,  but  long  since  worn  down 
to  an  upland.  In  the  eastern  United  States 
that  long,  but  interrupted,  range  of  hills, 
which,  under  various  names,  runs  from  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Alabama  and 
Georgia,  and  partially  shuts  the  seaboard  off 


36  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

from  the  prairies  and  plains  beyond,  is  a  region 
where  the  folding  is  still  well  marked,  in  spite 
of  long  denudation. 

The  Secondary  period  seems  to  have  been 
one  in  which  comparatively  little  folding  took 
place,  while,  as  already  indicated,  the  Terti- 
ary was  one  in  which  there  was  enormous 
folding  in  almost  all  parts  of  the  globe,  the 
result  being  the  appearance  at  the  surface  of 
the  great  mountain  chains  of  the  present  day. 
The  structure  of  these  chains  makes  them 
relatively  unstable,  and  the  forces  of  erosion 
are  now  acting  upon  them  with  extraordi- 
nary activity,  beginning  that  process  of  wear- 
ing down  which  has  reduced  their  prototypes 
of  the  Primary  period  to  mere  remnants  of 
their  former  greatness. 

Extensive  as  the  Tertiary  folding  was, 
however,  it  left  great  areas  unaffected,  or  but 
slightly  affected,  and  such  areas  form  plains 
or  basins,  where  the  rocks  are  but  slightly 
tilted,  or  show  a  very  simple  form  of  folding. 
In  Europe  such  slightly  modified  rocks  occur, 
e.  g.  in  the  Paris  basin,  and  in  the  fertile  plains 
of  south-eastern  England. 

In  the  United  States  beds  of  a  similar 
character  occur  right  over  the  great  plains, 
filling  what  seems  once  to  have  been  a  great 


PROCESS  OF  EROSION  37 

gulf  between  the  old  highlands  to  the  east  and 
the  towering  modern  mountain  chains  of  the 
west. 

It  must  be  realised  that  this  is  only  a  very 
summary  and  partial  account  of  a  difficult  and 
complicated  problem ;  but  from  the  standpoint 
of  pure  geography  it  seems  desirable  to  dis- 
tinguish between  those  remnants  of  ancient 
mountains  which  form  the  backbone  of  the 
continents,  the  recently  elevated  mountain 
chains  where  enormously  rapid  erosion  is 
taking  place,  and  the  largely  unmodified  rocks 
which  often  form  fertile  plains. 

Let  us  next  proceed  to  consider  how  the 
eroding  agents  act  upon  the  surface  of  the 
land  as  soon  as  it  is  exposed.  We  may  begin 
with  the  effect  of  running  water  upon  a  re- 
cently exposed  surface,  e.  g.  upon  land  slowly 
emerging  above  sea-level,  or  even  with  the 
effect  of  heavy  rain  upon  sloping  ground  un- 
protected by  a  covering  of  vegetation.  Alike 
in  the  one  case  and  in  the  other  the  first  effect 
is  the  formation  of  a  number  of  shallow  rills, 
which  at  first  run  parallel  to  one  another. 
Sooner  or  later,  however,  these  parallel  chan- 
nels tend  to  converge,  and  a  torrent  is  formed 
such  as  may  be  seen  in  any  mountain  region. 

A  1  o  &  i 


38  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

Such  a  torrent  consists  of  three  often  well- 
defined  parts.     First  we  have  the  numerous 


Fig.  2. — An  ideal  profile  of  a  mature  river  (AC),  showing  the 
increase  in  the  slope  towards  the  source.  The  dotted  line  BC 
shows  an  earlier  stage,  when  there  are  smooth  reaches  and 
rapid  reaches  with  waterfalls,  etc.  Note  that  progressive 
erosion  causes  the  source  to  retreat  (i.  e.  from  B  to  A) . 

tiny  rills  which  collect  together  to  form  what 
the  French  physiographers  call  a  receiving 


Fig.  3. — An  actual  profile  of  the  Loire.  It  will  be  noted  that 
the  Loire  i3  a  mature  river,  its  profile  nearly  coinciding  with 
the  "ideal"  condition.     (After  de  Martonne.) 


basin  (bassin  de  reception);  then  there  is  the 
stream  proper  forming  a  canal  which  drains 
the  basin,   while  below,   where   the  torrent 


PROCESS  OF  EROSION  39 

debouches  on  the  low  ground,  we  find  that 
it  spreads  out  fanwise  and  throws  down 
its  load  of  debris  to  form  a  cone  (cone  de 
dejection).  The  torrent  therefore  already 
imitates  a  full-grown  river,  with  its  threefold 
division  into  mountain  track,  valley  track, 
and  plain  track.  It  further  illustrates  the 
twofold  work  of  the  river,  that  of  erosion  and 
deposition. 

Observation  on  an  unprotected  surface 
after  a  heavy  rainfall  will  illustrate  another 
point  which  is  of  much  interest  in  connection 
with  the  work  of  rivers.  This  is  that  the 
water  has  most  excavating  power,  not,  as 
might  be  supposed,  in  the  collecting  basin, 
but  in  the  valley  region,  where  the  slope  is 
still  great,  where  the  volume  of  the  water  is 
at  its  maximum,  and  where  it  has  acquired  a 
load  of  debris  by  means  of  which  it  carves  out 
its  bed.  The  excavation  of  the  bed  therefore 
proceeds  from  below  upwards  towards  the 
collecting  basin.  The  result  is  that  the  slope 
of  the  valley  floor  diminishes  as  we  pass  from 
the  upper  region  to  the  lower,  owing  to  the 
levelling  effect  of  erosion.  The  process  of 
levelling  down  cannot  be  carried  beyond  a 
certain  point,  the  so-called  base  level  of  ero- 
sion, which  in  a  lateral  stream  is  determined 


40  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

by  the  point  of  junction  with  the  main  stream, 
and  in  a  main  stream  by  the  point  which 
marks  sea  or  lake  level,  for  obviously  no 
point  in  the  river  valley  can  be  worn  down 
much  below  its  mouth. 

When  the  work  of  a  river  is  completed,  the 
line  which  marks  the  profile  of  its  bed  should 
have  a  gentle  and  continuous  slope  down- 
wards to  base  level.  The  existence  of  irregu- 
larities, of  breaks  in  the  smoothness  of  the 
slope,  means  that  the  work  of  excavation  has 
not  proceeded  far,  that  the  river  is  young. 
But  it  is  not  necessary  to  proceed  to  the 
laborious  drawing  of  a  profile  in  order  to  de- 
termine the  extent  to  which  the  process  of 
excavation  has  been  carried.  The  existence 
of  rapids,  of  waterfalls,  the  alternation  of 
swift  and  slow-flowing  reaches  are  all  proofs 
that  it  has  not  been  carried  far.  In  short,  if 
a  river  is  navigable,  the  navigable  reach  at 
least  is  mature;  if  it  is  capable  of  furnishing 
power,  that  region  at  least  is  youthful.  If, 
as  sometimes  happens,  the  middle  course  is 
navigable  and  slow-flowing,  and  the  lower 
course  broken  by  rapids  and  falls,  then  the 
probability  is  that  earth  movements  have  oc- 
curred, so  that  the  two  regions  are  of  differ- 


PROCESS  OF  EROSION  41 

ent  age.     This  is  a  condition  which  occurs 
relatively  often  in  the  case  of  large  rivers. 

One  other  point  is  worth  notice,  because  it 
illustrates  another  way  in  which  the  analogy 
of  youth  and  maturity  holds  good.  The 
youthful  river,  with  its  interrupted  slope,  its 
lakes  and  falls,  does  not  permit  the  water  to 
flow  off  with  the  same  regularity  as  the  ma- 
ture river  with  its  smoothed  outlines.  The 
mature  river  is  thus  a  more  perfect  instru- 
ment of  drainage. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  our  purpose  to  con- 
sider in  detail  the  characteristic  forms  of 
river  erosion.  It  may  be  sufficient  to  notice 
that  rapids  and  waterfalls  are  due  to  the 
varying  hardness  of  the  rocks  forming  the 
bed  of  the  river,  and  that  the  normal  course  of 
events  is  the  transition  from  waterfall  to 
rapid,  and  from  rapid  to  stream  flowing 
quietly  at  the  bottom  of  a  rocky  gorge.  Long 
gorges  or  canons  tend  to  occur  in  regions 
where  river  erosion  is  not  greatly  assisted  by 
the  other  eroding  agents.  As  a  general  rule, 
as  the  river  cuts  its  way  down,  the  other 
agents  cut  back  the  walls  so  exposed,  so  that 
a  wide  valley  is  formed. 

But  a  river  does  not  only  eat  out  its  bed  in 
its  valley  track.    A  necessary  consequence  of 


42  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

this  erosion  is  that  it  is  also  able  to  eat  back 
the  slope  on  which  it  is  rising,  as  a  result  of 
the  smoothing  out  of  the  curves  of  its  bed,  so 
that  its  source  retreats  further  and  further 
into  the  mountain.  In  regions  of  abundant 
rainfall  every  slope  is  abundantly  supplied 
with  streams,  and  therefore  those  streams 
which  cut  back  their  region  of  origin  most 
rapidly  will  necessarily  encroach  upon  their 
neighbours'  territory.  They  therefore  tend 
to  tap  some  of  the  tributaries  of  the  other 
streams,  a  phenomenon  which  has  sometimes 
considerable  human  importance,  and  has 
been  extensively  studied  of  late  years  under 
the  name  of  river-capture. 

Some  examples  may  serve  to  make  the  phe- 
nomenon clear.  Every  one  who  has  travelled 
up  the  Rhone  valley  in  Switzerland  has 
noted  the  enormous  number  of  lateral  streams, 
of  all  sizes,  which  tumble  down  the  mountain 
sides  into  the  Rhone.  These  streams  on,  e.  g., 
the  south  side,  are,  roughly  speaking,  parallel 
to  each  other,  and  to  a  large  extent  enter 
the  main  stream  independently.  That  is,  for 
the  most  part  they  are  very  youthful  streams. 
In  some  cases,  however,  e.  g.  in  the  case  of  the 
Dranse  and  the  Visp,  the  drainage  is  of  a 
more  advanced  character,  and  we  find  a  large 


PROCESS  OF  EROSION  43 

stream  with  tributaries  of  considerable  size 
as  distinct  from  mere  torrents.    A  glance  at 


u 


any  great  river  system  on  the  map,  e.  g.  the 
Mississippi,  the  Amazon,  etc.,  will  show  that 
the  condition  of  a  great  stream  with  many 


44  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

tributaries  is  normal  in  a  district  where  the 
drainage  is  of  the  developed  type.  How  are 
the  two  conditions,  that  of  numerous  parallel 
mountain  torrents  and  that  of  a  great  river 
system,  related  to  one  another?  There  is 
no  doubt  that  capture,  the  encroachment  of 
one  stream  upon  the  territory  of  another,  has 
played  an  important  part  in  the  process. 

A  very  simple  example  of  this  widespread 
phenomenon  may  be  taken  in  illustration. 
The  accompanying  sketch-map,  drawn  by 
Mr.  Lionel  Hinxman,  shows  part  of  the 
course  of  the  River  Feshie,  one  of  the  tribu- 
taries of  the  Spey,  and  part  of  the  Geldie 
Burn,  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Aberdeen- 
shire Dee.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  Feshie 
shows  a  very  curious  bend,  or  elbow.  Mr. 
Hinxman  points  out  that  this  curious  condi- 
tion can  be  explained  on  the  supposition  that 
the  River  Eidart,  shown  on  the  map  to  the 
north  of  the  bend,  once  formed  the  head- 
waters of  the  Feshie,  which  cut  its  valley 
back  until  it  captured  the  headwaters  of  the 
Geldie,  and  thus  brought  water  which  form- 
erly flowed  into  the  Dee  into  the  Spey  valley. 
The  boundary  between  the  two  counties  of 
Aberdeen  and  Inverness  is  shown  on  the  map 
by  a  dotted  line,  and  it  is  seen  that  the  march 


PROCESS  OF  EROSION  45 

follows  the  watershed,  which  between  the 
present  Geldie  and  the  bend  on  the  Feshie  is 
very  low.  Formerly,  however,  this  water- 
shed lay  much  further  to  the  west,  and  its 
shifting  is  due  to  the  capture. 

A  careful  study  of  large  scale  maps  will 
show  many  examples  of  similar  river-capture, 
some  old  and  some  recent.  A  sharp  bend, 
the  so-called  elbow  of  capture,  on  a  river  in 
close  proximity  to  another  stream  affords  in 
itself  a  certain  presumption  that  capture  has 
taken  place,  though  this  presumption  can 
only  be  verified  by  study  on  the  spot. 

It  may  be  noted  that  before  the  capture  is 
finally  accomplished  there  may  be  an  inter- 
mediate stage  when  the  water  has  the  choice 
of  two  channels,  both  of  which  may  be  utilised 
in  a  time  of  flood.  A  very  curious  case  is  that 
of  the  Casiquiare,  a  river  in  South  America 
which  connects  together  the  two  systems 
of  the  Amazon  and  the  Orinoco,  while  an- 
other is  the  connection  recently  discovered 
by  Captain  Lenfant,  a  French  explorer,  be- 
tween the  systems  of  the  Shari  and  the  Niger 
in  Africa.  Such  conditions  are  obviously  un- 
stable, for  one  stream  must  sooner  or  later 
predominate  over  the  other,  and  deprive  it 
even  of  flood  water. 


46  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

Another  example  may  help  to  explain  the 
evolution  of  a  complex  river  system  with 
many  tributaries.  A  glance  at  the  map  of 
England  (see  diagram)  shows  that  while  the 
rivers  of  Northumberland  and  Durham  flow 
independently  into  the  sea,  those  of  York- 
shire are  united  into  a  characteristic  bunch, 
and  all  reach  the  ocean  by  means  of  the 
Humber.  This  estuary  breaks  through  the 
high  ground  formed  by  the  Wolds  of  York- 
shire and  Lincolnshire,  which  consists  of  hard 
rock.  At  one  time  it  is  probable  that  the  riv- 
ers of  Yorkshire  entered  the  sea  separately, 
while  the  other  great  factor  of  the  Humber, 
the  Trent,  mingled  its  waters  with  the  present 
Withaim  At  this  time  the  weathering  of  the 
land  surface  had  not  reached  its  present  stage 
so  the  land  would  lie  higher.  In  what  is  now 
the  vale  of  York  the  rocks  are  much  softer 
than  where  the  Wolds  now  stand,  and  the 
present  Ouse,  which  was  at  first  a  longitudinal 
tributary  of  a  transverse  stream,  eating  its 
way  back  through  these  soft  rocks,  tapped 
successively  the  streams  flowing  eastwards 
from  the  Pennines,  and  with  the  help  of  the 
abundant  water  so  obtained  was  enabled  to 
cut  out  the  wide  estuary  of  the  Humber. 


PROCESS  OF  EROSION 


47 


One  other  important  point  in  connection 
with  river-capture  has  been  already  suggested 
in  the  account  given  of  the  Feshie.  In  the 
little  sketch-map  we  see  clearly  the  shift  of 
the  watershed  to  the  east.  The  ultimate 
cause  of  this  shift  is  doubtless  the  fact  that  in 


Fig.  6. — Sketch-map  of  northern  England,  to  show  the 
position  of  the  Tyne  and  Aire  Gaps,  and  the  peculiar  character 
of  the  rivers  of  Yorkshire.  The  black  areas  are  heights  above 
600  feet. 


48  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

Great  Britain  the  rainfall  diminishes  to  the 
east,  so  that,  generally  speaking,  the  westerly 
streams  have  more  erosive  power  than  the 
easterly.  But  the  special  interest  of  the  case 
is  simply  that  it  may  serve  to  suggest  a  fact 
not  at  first  sight  obvious,  which  is  that  water- 
partings  are  excessively  unstable  features. 
One  set  of  streams  is  continually  striving  to 
encroach  upon  the  others,  and  by  capturing 
their  headwaters  to  reduce  their  erosive 
power.  A  very  striking  example  of  capture 
on  the  large  scale  is  seen  in  southern  Pata- 
gonia, where  the  water-parting  does  not  lie 
near  the  summit  of  the  chain  of  the  Andes, 
as  might  be  expected,  but  considerably  to  the 
east,  the  western  streams  (or  glaciers)  having 
captured  all  the  headwaters  of  the  eastern 
streams,  which  lie  in  a  region  of  much  lower 
rainfall. 

The  net  result  is  that  running  water  not 
only  scours  valleys  in  the  sides  of  mountain 
chains,  but  also,  sooner  or  later,  wears  away 
the  crest  itself,  and  with  the  assistance  of  the 
other  agents  of  denudation  tends  to  reduce 
the  mountains  to  plains — or  at  least  "pene- 
plains." The  deduction  is,  of  course,  old 
enough,  but  the  recent  emphasis  placed  upon 
river-capture  helps  us  to  realise  it,  showing 


PROCESS  OF  EROSION  49 

us  the  actual  "shift  of  the  divide,"  or,  in  other 
words,  the  wearing  down  of  the  summit 
levels. 

This  is  a  theoretical  matter,  but  there  is 
another  point  which  has  practical  significance. 
Referring  once  again  to  the  sketch-map  on 
p.  43,  we  note  that  just  at  the  sharp  bend  in 
the  Feshie,  that  is,  at  the  elbow  of  capture, 
there  is  a  narrow  region,  crossed  by  the 
boundary  line,  which  was  once  traversed  by 
the  headwaters  of  the  Geldie,  but  is  now 
a  dry  valley.  Such  "gaps,"  as  they  are 
called,  are  present  where  recent  capture  has 
occurred,  and  where  they  occur  in  hilly 
country  they  sometimes  form  useful  passes, 
permitting  the  construction  of  an  easy  road 
across  the  hills.  A  good  example  is  the  Aire 
Gap  (see  fig.  5)  in  the  Pennine  range  of  Great 
Britain,  apparently  connected  with  the  fact 
that  the  Ribble  has  captured  the  headwaters 
of  the  Aire.  Another  interesting  example 
is  the  so-called  Tyne  Gap,  that  breach  in  the 
Pennines  which  occurs  near  the  present 
head  of  the  South  Tyne;  it  was  traversed 
by  the  Roman  wall,  and  is  now  crossed  by 
the  road  and  the  railway  from  Newcastle  to 
Carlisle. 

As  we  shall  see,  ice  appears  to  have  this 


50  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

power  of  cutting  passes  through  mountain 
chains  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  running 
water;  but  here,  as  in  many  other  respects, 
there  does  not  appear  to  be  a  sharp  breach 
between  the  action  of  the  two. 


CHAPTER  III 

ICE   AND   ITS   WORK 

In  the  last  chapter  we  have  spoken  of  the 
moulding  of  the  surface  of  the  earth  by  means 
of  running  water  and  the  agents  summed  up 
in  the  term  "weathering."  The  process  is 
sometimes  called  "normal  erosion,"  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  that  other  form  of  surface 
moulding  in  which  ice  and  frost  play  a  promi- 
nent part.  At  the  present  time  ice,  in  the 
form  of  ice-sheets  or  glaciers,  is  confined  to 
relatively  small  areas  of  the  globe,  so  that  we 
are  justified  in  regarding  its  action  as  ex- 
ceptional when  compared  with  the  work  of 
running  water.  It  is,  however,  well  known 
that  this  limitation  of  the  field  of  action  of 
ice  is  very  recent,  and  that  during  a  period 
which  geologically  is  only  yesterday,  a  much 
greater  part  of  the  surface  than  at  present 
was  ice-clad. 

61 


52  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

In  point  of  fact,  much  of  Europe,  especially 
the  northern  parts  and  those  regions  which 
lie  close  to  the  lofty  mountain  chains,  much 
of  North  America,  and,  probably,  consider- 
able parts  of  the  southern  hemisphere,  were 
subjected  to  the  action  of  ice  so  recently 
that  the  processes  of  normal  erosion  have  not 
had  time  to  obliterate,  hardly  even  to  blur, 
the  tracks  which  the  ice  left. 

The  results  of  the  great  extension  of  ice 
action  in  that  period  which  geologists  call 
Pleistocene  were  twofold.  In  the  first  place, 
as  the  result  of  the  presence  of  the  ice-sheet, 
we  have  vast  accumulations  of  debris  spread 
over  the  lower  grounds.  These  accumula- 
tions sometimes  form  great  sheets  of  boulder 
clay;  sometimes  they  are  collected  into  the 
curious  sandy  and  gravelly  mounds  called 
kames  which  in  parts  of,  e.  g.  Scotland,  have 
a  great  extension;  sometimes  they  have 
formed  great  heaps  of  material  at  the  entrances 
of  valleys.  Again,  these  deposits  have  some- 
times blocked  valleys  and  so  formed  lakes, 
and  they  have  supplied  the  post-glacial 
rivers  with  a  vast  amount  of  material  which 
has  been  used  to  scour  out  the  river-beds, 
and  has  been  often  re-sorted  and  re-arranged 
by  running  water. 


ICE  AND  ITS  WORK  53 

Secondly,  the  facts  that  the  northern  region 
and  the  high  grounds  further  south,  in  both 
Europe  and  North  America,  have  been  re- 
cently clad  in  ice  is  associated  with  many 
peculiarities  of  surface  form,  some  of  which 
have  exercised  a  marked  influence  on  human 
settlements  and  ways  of  communication. 

These  peculiarities  of  surface  moulding 
have  been  the  object  of  singularly  detailed 
study  in  late  years,  and  from  this  detailed 
study  many  interesting  facts  have  emerged. 
It  may  be  well  to  state  at  once  that  this  study 
has  been  largely  stimulated  by  the  fact  that 
there  is  at  present  a  great  want  of  unanimity 
of  opinion  as  to  the  exact  cause  of  these 
peculiarities  of  form.  According  to  one  school 
ice  is  a  more  powerful  eroding  agent  than 
water;  according  to  another  its  action  is 
largely  conservative,  and  its  power  of  erosion 
is  slight  as  compared  with  that  of  water. 

The  beginnings  of  a  possible  solution  of 
the  problem  are  perhaps  to  be  seen  in  the 
suggestions  of  those  who  seek  the  causes  of 
the  peculiar  features  of  glaciated  regions  in 
the  way  in  which  running  water  works 
when  it  is  controlled  and  modified  by  the 
existence  of  ice;  but  we  must  admit  that,  on 
the  whole,  the  conflict  is  still  hot  and  many 


54  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

members  of  the  opposing  schools  will  have 
no  compromise. 

To  the  geographer,  however,  the  very 
fierceness  of  the  controversy  has  been  useful. 
The  question  as  to  the  exact  part  played 
respectively  by  water  and  by  ice  in  surface 
moulding  is  really  a  question  for  the  geolo- 
gist. It  is,  however,  of  great  importance  to 
the  geographer  that  recently  glaciated  surfaces 
should  be  studied  from  every  point  of  view, 
for  from  this  detailed  study  are  emerging 
many  important  generalisations.  We  shall, 
therefore,  in  this  chapter  only  touch  very 
lightly  upon  the  actual  points  in  dispute, 
but  shall  lay  stress  upon  the  interesting  facts 
admitted  by  both  parties. 

When  the  conception  of  a  just- vanished 
period  of  great  glaciation  was  being  estab- 
lished by  the  labours  of  many  geologists, 
stress  was  naturally  laid  upon  the  obvious 
resemblances  between  parts  of,  e.  g.  Scotland 
and  Wales,  and  those  parts  of  the  Alps  which 
have  been  exposed  by  the  retreat  of  the  exist- 
ing glaciers.  Thus  we  find  that  most  of 
the  text-books  emphasise  the  occurrence  of 
perched  blocks,  of  erratics,  i.  e.  of  blocks  of 
rock  which  must  have  been  carried  from  a 
distance,  of  the  phenomenon  of  crag  and  tail, 


ICE  AND   ITS  WORK  55 

of  giants'  kettles,  and  so  on.  All  these  are 
of  more  geological  than  geographical  im- 
portance; they  do  not  in  themselves  greatly 
effect  the  distribution  of  other  phenomena 
over  the  surface.  We  shall  not,  therefore, 
stop  to  consider  them  in  detail.  It  is  other- 
wise with  those  indications  of  recent  glacia- 
tion  which  have  been  studied  within  the  last 
few  years,  and  they  demand  the  geographer's 
most  careful  consideration. 

The  most  active  discussion  has  taken  place 
in  regard  to  the  peculiar  features  of  the 
valleys  in  recently-glaciated  districts,  and 
we  shall  discuss  especially  this  point. 

We  have  already  described  the  general 
features  presented  by  valleys  which  owe 
their  origin  to  running  water.  In  such 
valleys,  as  we  have  seen,  the  longer  the  forces 
work  the  more  nearly  is  the  valley  floor 
reduced  to  an  even  slope,  whose  angle  de- 
creases in  passing  from  the  mountain  to  the 
plain  track.  In  the  ordinary  river  valley 
the  shape  of  the  valley  approximates  to  that 
of  a  V,  that  is,  the  valley  narrows  down- 
wards, the  river  occupying  the  narrowest 
region. 

Again,  as  a  general  rule  there  is  no  great 
difference    of    level    between    the    tributary 


56  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

valleys — at  least  at  their  extremities — and 
the  main  valley,  that  is,  there  is  no  sharp 
discordance  between  the  two.  While,  how- 
ever, the  "mature"  river  valley  shows  a 
gentle,  continuous  slope,  we  usually  find 
that  "young"  rivers,  at  least  in  their  moun- 
tain track,  show  an  alternation  of  plain  and 
gorge,  which  is  very  easily  observed  in  any 
hilly  region. 

In  other  words,  we  find  that,  owing  to  the 
inclination  of  the  rocks,  or  to  their  varying 
hardness,  or  to  other  causes,  particular 
reaches  are  less  easily  eroded  than  others. 
These  form  waterfalls,  which  ultimately,  as 
we  have  seen,  give  place  to  gorges.  Beyond 
the  waterfall  the  diminishing  slope  checks 
the  rapidity  of  flow,  and  the  stream  tends  to 
widen  out,  and  also  to  throw  down  its  load 
of  debris,  so  that  an  alluvial  plain  may  be 
formed. 

One  other  character  of  an  ordinary  river 
valley  may  be  noted.  It  heads,  as  we  have 
seen,  in  a  collecting  basin,  which  receives 
the  surface  runnels  and  the  outflows  of  the 
springs  which  form  the  beginning  of  the 
river. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  valleys  in  a  recently 
glaciated  country.    We  omit  any  description 


ICE  AND  ITS  WORK  57 

of  existing  glaciers;  these  will  be  found  de- 
scribed in  the  volume  on  the  Alps,  and  further, 
photography  and  the  picture  postcard  have 
rendered  the  main  features  of  a  glacier 
familiar  to  every  one.  Almost  every  large 
railway  station  now  shows  fine  coloured 
photographs  of  some  of  the  important  Swiss 
glaciers. 

Taking,  then,  a  valley  known  to  have  been 
occupied  by  a  Pleistocene  glacier,  we  find 
the  following  features.  As  contrasted  with 
an  ordinary  river  valley,  the  glacial  valley 
is  usually  flat-bottomed,  a  condition  de- 
scribed as  U-shaped  to  point  the  contrast 
with  the  river  valley.  Examples  in  Great 
Britain  and  elsewhere  are  frequent,  but  some 
of  the  Alpine  valleys  show  the  phenomenon 
in  a  very  striking  form.  Two  good  examples 
are  the  Aar  valley  at  Meiringen,  and  the 
Lauterbrunnen  valley  at  the  village  of  the 
same  name.  Both  have  been  rendered  more 
or  less  familiar  by  constant  photographing 
(see  fig.  7). 

The  reason  why  they  have  been  so  much 
photographed  leads  us  to  consider  another 
peculiarity  of  the  glaciated  valley.  In  both 
the  cases  named  a  steep  cliff  wall  rises  from 
either  side  of   the  broad,   flat  valley   floor, 


58  '  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

and  from  the  summit  of  this  cliff  the  lateral 
streams  leap  into  the  main  valley  by  often 
superb  waterfalls.  This  is  a  very  important 
feature  of  glaciated  valleys — the  fact  that 
their  tributaries  are  markedly  discordant, 
that  is,  that  there  is  marked  difference 
of  level  between  the  beds  of  the  side  and 
main  streams. 

Because  the  side  valleys  lie  high  above 
the  main  they  are  said  to  "hang,"  and  are 
called  hanging  valleys,  while  the  main  valley 
is  said  to  be  over-deepened.  The  rocky 
height  over  which  the  water  springs  may  be 
called  the  junction  step,  as  an  attempt  to 
translate  the  French  term  gradin  de  confluence 
which  is  applied  to  it. 

Incidentally  we  may  note  that  in  the  Alps 
the  junction  step  is  of  great  human  impor- 
tance. Its  presence  gives  the  water  the  power 
which  is  used  in  lighting  the  Alpine  villages 
with  electricity,  and  in  driving  the  trains 
which  often  carry  the  tourist  to  those  villages. 
In  the  French  and  Italian  Alps  especially, 
the  power  is  being  more  and  more  used  to 
supply  the  motive  force  for  various  minor 
manufactures,  notably  for  the  production  of 
nitrogenous  manure  from  the  air. 

Associated   with   the   hanging   valleys   of 


ICE  AND   ITS  WORK  59 

Alpine  regions  is  the  presence  of  a  curious 
shelf,  shoulder,  or  "bench,"  which  frequently 
lies  on  the  top  of  the  cliff  from  which  the 
lateral  streams  spring   (see  figs.   6  and  7). 


Fig.  6. — A  diagrammatic  cross-section  of  a  recently  glaciated 
valley.  AB,  the  mountain  slope  which  rose  above  the  ancient 
glacier  and  has  therefore  retained  the  sharp,  unrounded  forms 
due  to  ordinary  weathering.  BC,  the  shelf  or  shoulder,  form- 
erly covered  by  the  ice,  and  therefore  strewn  with  glacial  debris. 
It  now  usually  forma  a  pasture  or  alp.  The  dotted  line  con- 
necting CC  shows  the  probable  form  of  the  preglacial  valley; 
CD,  the  rocky  wall  of  the  existing  U-shaped  valley  on  whose 
floor  the  river  now  flows. 

Any  one  who  has  done  some  walking  in  the 
Alps,  must  have  noticed  a  peculiar  and  often 
trying  feature  of  any  walk  which  leads 
up  the  side  of  the  valley.     This  is  that  the 


60  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

walk  begins  with  a  very  steep  ascent,  where 
the  road  or  track  zig-zags  to  and  fro.  After 
this  steep  and  trying  climb  the  walker  reaches 
a  broad  shelf  (b  c  in  figs.  6  and  7),  where 
the  slope  is  much  less,  and  where  the  extent 
of  relatively  level  ground  gives  room  for  the 
erection  of  a  huge  hotel,  or  perhaps  only  of 


Fig.  7. — An  actual  cross-section  of  the  Lauterbrunnen  valley. 
The  vertical  and  horizontal  scales  are  the  same.  B  marks  the 
edge  of  the  cliff  wall  over  which  the  streams  leap  in  cascades.  A 
is  the  position  of  the  stream  at  the  bottom  of  the  U-shaped 
valley.  BC  marks  the  position  of  the  shelf,  largely  occupied  by 
the  pastures  or  alps.  Above  them  are  rocky,  unsmoothed 
slopes. 

a  group  of  chalets.  This  shelf  is  covered 
with  fine  herbage,  destined  to  be  cropped  by 
the  cows  of  the  community. 

If  the  traveller  continue  his  walk  he  will 
find  that  above  this  pasture  ground  or  alp 
the  slopes  are  again  steep  up  to  the  mountain 
summits.  Possibly,  however,  his  walk  has 
been  to  see  a  famous  waterfall  from  above, 
and   he   will   find   that   the   streams   which 


ICE  AND  ITS  WORK  61 

flow  with  relative  slowness  over  the  com- 
paratively gentle  slopes  of  the  alp  or  shelf, 
will  at  some  point  tumble  over  the  region  up 
which  he  climbed,  probably  in  a  series  of 
leaps  or  cascades. 

The  U-shaped  valley,  the  "hanging"  tribu- 
taries, the  shelf  or  shoulder  running  along 
the  upper  part  of  the  cliff  wall  which  bounds 
the  main  valley,  all  these  are  striking  features 
of  glaciated  regions.  We  shall  not  here  dis- 
cuss the  probable  causes  of  this  striking 
"break  of  slope,"  so  different  from  the  char- 
acteristically continuous  slopes  of  an  ordinary 
mature  river  valley.  As  has  been  indicated, 
it  is  here  that  active  controversy  rages. 
It  is,  however,  important  to  note  that  the 
shoulder  or  bench  of  which  we  have  spoken 
was  almost  certainly  once  covered  by  the 
ice,  its  gentle  slope  indicating  the  original 
valley  floor,  before  over-deepening  took  place. 

The  reason  why  pasture  now  grows  upon 
it  is  that  it  is  covered  with  fine  glacial  debris, 
which  makes  fertile  soil.  The  fertile  soil, 
which  is  often  irrigated  by  milky  water  from 
existing  glaciers,  combined  with  the  effect 
of  altitude  upon  the  plants,  produces  rich 
pasturage,  and  makes  cattle-rearing  an  im- 
portant alpine  industry. 


62  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

The  next  interesting  feature  of  glaciated 
regions  is  the  occurrence  of  those  curious 
mountain  forms  which  have  special  names 
in  nearly  every  recently-glaciated  region. 
Those  gigantic  arm-chair-shaped  notches, 
high  up  on  the  mountain  sides,  which  the 
Welsh  call  cwms,  the  Scotch  corries,  the 
French  cirques,  and  the  Germans  kare,  are 
very  widespread  in  the  Highlands  of  Scot- 
land, in  the  mountains  of  Wales,  in  the  Tyrol, 
and  in  other  parts  of  the  Alps  (though  they 
are  not  common  in  the  Central  region),  and 
in  North  America  as  well  as  elsewhere. 

A  cirque  (fig.  8)  is  shaped  something  like 
an  office  arm-chair.  The  floor  has  only  a 
gentle  downward  slope,  and  often  lodges  a 
lake;  or  in  other  cases  it  is  marshy,  showing 
that  a  lake  was  once  present.  The  back 
and  sides  are  steep  and  precipitous.  In 
some  instances,  if  several  cirques  occur  near 
together,  the  side  walls  may  be  eroded 
through,  so  that  a  shelf  is  produced,  as  one 
might  produce  a  bench  by  putting  two  chairs 
side  by  side,  and  cutting  away  the  contiguous 
arms.  Very  often,  as  one  may  easily  see  in  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland,  a  series  of  cirques 
occur,  one  above  the  other,  so  that  a  climber 
proceeding  from  the  valley  floor  upwards  has 


ICE  AND  ITS  WORK 


63 


a  succession  of  steep  "pitches,"  to  use  a 
mountaineering  term,  alternating  with  easy 
if  wet  walks  across  the  floors  of  the  successive 
cirques. 

It  quite  often  happens  in  the  case  of  high 


Fig.  8. — Diagram  showing  two  glacial  cirques. 

mountains  in  the  Alps  that  the  topmost  of 
such  a  series  of  cirques  still  retains  a  glacier, 
what  is  called  a  dead  glacier,  that  is,  one 
which  has  practically  ceased  to  move. 

In  other  cases,  again,  we  may  find  that 


64  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

what  should  be  the  flat  floor  of  the  cirque 
has  been  largely  eaten  away,  as  it  were,  by 
a  huge  rounded  trough,  which  occupies  what 
would  be  the  extreme  front  of  the  seat  of 
the  arm-chair.  In  this  trough  a  stream  runs, 
and  the  trough  has  the  characteristic  U- 
shaped  rounding  characteristic  of  glacial 
forms.  Further,  at  the  top  of  the  wall  of 
the  trough  a  bench  or  shelf  exists,  which  is 
obviously  the  remains  of  the  old  cirque 
floor.  In  the  case  of  all  characteristic  glacial 
cirques,  however,  the  special  feature  is  that 
the  flat  bottom  of  the  cirque  is  discontinuous 
with  the  valley  below;  they  are  not  parts  of 
the  same  system  of  drainage.  What  we  may 
call  an  unconformity  appears  between  the  two 
regions,  more  or  less  marked  according  as 
running  water  has  or  has  not  had  time  to 
begin  the  work  of  the  removal  of  the  uncon- 
formity. 

The  immediate  human  importance  of  these 
corries  or  cirques  is  not  so  apparent  as  in 
the  case  of  hanging  valleys,  but  they  must 
be  mentioned,  if  only  because  of  their  ex- 
traordinary abundance  in  glaciated  regions, 
and  especially  in  Great  Britain.  There  are 
two  views  as  to  their  origin,  and  we  shall 
indicate  both  here  without  making  any  at- 


ICE  AND  ITS  WORK  65 

tempt  to  decide  which  is  the  correct  one. 
A  very  full  and  clear  statement  of  one  posi- 
tion will  be  found  in  an  article  by  Prof.  Gar- 
wood in  the  Geographical  Journal  for  Septem- 
ber 1910,  while  previous  articles  by  Prof. 
Davis  and  others  in  this  journal  formulate  the 
opposed  view. 

To  the  first  school  the  corrie  is  simply  in 
origin  the  collecting  basin  of  a  pre-glacial 
stream,  such  a  basin  tending  to  acquire, 
roughly  speaking,  a  flattish  bottom  and 
somewhat  steep  sides.  With  the  onset  of 
the  ice  the  floor  of  the  basin  was  protected 
by  the  ice  from  further  erosion,  while  the 
frost  ate  back  the  wall  and  so  steepened  it, 
and  the  glacier  carried  away  all  debris  as 
it  formed.  At  a  later  stage  the  lower  part 
of  the  glacier  disappeared  and  only  the  cirque 
glacier  was  left.  It  continued  its  protective 
action,  while  below  the  powerful  torrents 
hollowed  out  a  trough.  This  process  was 
perhaps  repeated  several  times,  with  the 
final  result  that  the  protected  cirque  was  left 
as  a  much-modified  remnant  of  pre-glacial 
conditions,  while  the  valley  below  was  power- 
fully eroded  by  the  glacial  torrents.  Thus 
a  cirque  lying  above  an  existing  valley  is  to 
be  regarded  as  the  beheaded  end  of  an  old 


66  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

valley,  preserved  by  its  ice  covering,  while 
below  the  old  valley  has  been  fundamentally 
modified  by  the  scour  of  the  glacial  torrents. 
On  this  view  the  sharp  distinction  between 
the  two  angles  of  slope  marks  the  distinction 
between  the  work  of  ice  (protective)  and  the 
work  of  water  (erosive).  A  series  of  cirques 
means  a  succession  of  glacial  and  interglacial 
periods. 

According  to  the  other  school,  for  whom 
ice  is  a  more  powerful  eroding  agent  than 
water,  the  cirque  was  produced  by  the  ice, 
its  presence  or  absence,  in  e.  g.  the  Alps, 
being  determined  by  the  shape  of  the  pre- 
glacial  mountains.  Cirques  are  believed  to 
have  been  produced  by  the  ice  wherever  the 
form  of  the  mountains  conduced  to  the 
accumulation  of  snow,  and  the  occurrence 
of  a  series  of  cirques,  and  of  the  troughs  which 
seem  sometimes  to  eat  into  their  floors,  is 
ascribed  to  the  successive  retreat  of  the  great 
ice-plough,  i.  e.  to  the  action  of  the  retreating 
ice  itself,  and  not  to  the  water  which  flows 
from  beneath  it. 

Another  striking  feature  of  many  glacial 
valleys  is  a  very  marked  want  of  continuity 
in  the  slope  of  the  main  valley.    Not  only  do 


ICE  AND  ITS  WORK  67 

the  side  valleys  "hang"  over  the  main 
valleys,  but,  further,  this  main  valley  itself 
often  consists  of  relatively  level  reaches 
alternating  with  rocky  bars,  through  which 
the  river  has  sometimes  later  cut  a  gorge. 
Examples  of  this  are  very  frequent.  The 
famous  gorge  of  the  Aar  above  Meiringen  is 
a  river  gorge  cut  through  a  rocky  bar  of  this 
kind. 

The  Pyrenees  are  somewhat  less  familiar, 
both  to  tourists  and  in  the  form  of  pictures, 
but  there,  also,  the  same  thing  occurs.  Above 
the  health  resort  of  Cauterets  lies  the  little 
Lac  de  Gaube,  whose  mouth  is  blocked  by  a 
rocky  bar  through  which  the  little  torrent 
is  cutting  a  tiny  gorge.  If  the  tourist  crosses 
the  lake  in  a  boat  and  begins  to  walk  up  the 
valley  above  it,  he  will  find  that  it  has  the 
form  of  a  staircase,  the  huge  steps  being 
separated  from  one  another  by  broad  pla- 
teaux, which  are  flat  and  swampy,  and  have 
obviously  been  occupied  by  lakes  not  long 
ago.  Above  each  plateau  there  is  a  rocky 
wall,  almost  precipitous,  down  which  the 
stream  flows  in  cascades.  In  other  parts  of 
the  Pyrenees  the  same  phenomenon  occurs, 
and  the  lakes  sometimes  persist,  lying  one 
above  the  other  in  a  series. 


68 


MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 


The  phenomenon  is  so  common  that  it 
markedly  affects  human  life  in  the  Alps. 
The  "landings,"  as  the  French  call  them, 
usually  afford  good  pasture  ground,  while 
those  which  lie  at  no  great  elevation  can  be 
cultivated.  Further,  as  the  ground  is  level 
there  is  room  for  houses  or  even  for  a  con- 


if 

f I  1 


i^  ICetrres 
5"     r2000 

t|      Pl800 

1600 

1400 

1200 


Horizontal  Scale 

jMlem.tr...  IMflM.tr..'       I       II, 


:  Sbtttt*  HB»      Atom  Sea  Uvrl ' 


MADEBANEB  TRAX 
Horizontal  Scale  i 00066        Vertical  Scale  twice  exaggerated 
SECTION  1 

Fig.  9. — Profile  of  the  Maderaner  thai  in  Switzerland,  to 
show  the  staircase  arrangement  peculiar  to  recently  glaciated 
valleys.     (From  Garwood.) 

siderable  village.  The  intervening  region  or 
step  is  too  rocky  to  give  level  ground  for 
human  habitations  or  for  pasture  and  cultiva- 
tion. Where  the  river  has  had  time  to  cut 
a  gorge,  the  road  must  leave  the  stream,  and 
can  often  be  constructed  only  with  difficulty. 
The  result  is  that  an  Alpine  valley  often  con- 
sists of  a  chain  of  villages,  linked  together 


ICE  AND  ITS  WORK  69 

by  a  difficult  mule  track  or  path.  The 
abundant  water-power,  however,  makes  me- 
chanical traction  relatively  easy,  and  we 
have  sometimes  the  curious  condition  that 
a  mule  track  is  replaced  by  a  railway,  with- 
out the  intervention  of  a  road  fit  for  wheeled 
traffic. 

We  need  not  stop  to  discuss  the  probable 
cause  of  this  step  and  stair  arrangement, 
which  presents  much  the  same  problem  as 
the  series  of  cirques  at  the  head  of  the  valley. 
It  is  enough  to  indicate  that  according  to  one 
group  of  physical  geographers  the  flat  landings 
are  due  to  the  way  in  which  the  gradually 
decreasing  glacier  protected  its  bed  from 
erosion,  while  the  torrent  which  issued  from 
it  eroded  very  rapidly  below;  according  to 
another  school  the  landings  are  due  to  direct: 
glacial  erosion.  There  are  other  observers, 
again,  who  lay  especial  stress  upon  the  modifi- 
cations of  the  erosive  powers  of  running  water, 
due  to  the  presence  of  the  ice.  For  us  it  is 
of  interest  to  notice  that,  as  has  been  already 
indicated,  the  staircase  effect  occurs  also, 
though  on  a  smaller  scale,  in  the  case  of  moun- 
tain streams  generally,  some  of  which  must  be 
post-glacial  in  origin.  In  other  words,  there 
seems  to  be  fundamental  similarity  between 


70  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

the  work  of  ice  and  of  water,  the  differences 
being  differences  of  degree  rather  than  of 
kind,  and  due  largely  to  the  varying  fluidity 
of  the  two. 

There  is  still  one  other  feature  of  glaciated 
regions  to  which  reference  must  be  made. 
This  is  the  occurrence  of  peculiarly  open 
passes  in  considerable  numbers  across  moun- 
tain regions  which  have  been  recently  gla- 
ciated. In  the  geography  books  and  in  some 
maps,  the  Alps,  for  example,  are  represented 
as  a  great  barrier,  shutting  off  the  fertile 
plains  of  Italy  from  the  countries  of  Central 
Europe.  But  history  shows  that  they  have 
never  been  such  a  barrier,  and  the  phrase  of 
"  splendid  traitor  "  has  been  applied  to  the 
whole  mountain  range,  in  order  to  emphasise 
its  total  inadequacy  as  a  barrier,  either  to 
armed  or  to  peaceful  invasion. 

Since  the  time  of  Napoleon  I  public  at- 
tention has  been  focussed  upon  a  few  great 
Alpine  passes,  notably  the  Mont  Cenis,  the 
Simplon  and  the  St.  Gothard,  which  are 
crossed  by  great  carriage  roads,  now  func- 
tionally replaced  by  railway  tunnels  beneath. 
But  we  must  not  forget  that  in  addition  to 
these  and  the  other  great  passes  there  are 
almost  innumerable  ways  of  crossing  the  Alps 


ICE  AND  ITS  WORK  71 

on  foot,  and  the  presence  either  of  Hospices  or 
of  small  inns  on  many  of  the  smaller  passes 
shows  that  they  are  constantly  used  at  the 
present  time,  in  spite  of  railway  tunnels 
and  carriage  roads  elsewhere.  Even  a  pass 
relatively  so  difficult  as  the  Theodule,  was 
used  by  very  large  numbers  of  Italian  peas- 
ants during  the  time  when  work  on  the 
Simplon  railway  made  great  demands  on 
Italian  labour. 

Any  one  of  the  passes,  great  or  small, 
shows  in  outline  the  same  characters.  There 
is  a  steep  ascent,  often  steeper  on  the  Italian 
than  on  the  other  side,  then  a  broad,  wind- 
swept, open  summit,  sometimes  almost  level, 
below  which  the  rapid  descent  begins.  Not 
infrequently  a  lake,  or  lakes,  may  be  found 
near  the  summit. 

On  a  smaller  scale  the  same  phenomenon 
occurs  in  such  glaciated  regions  as  Scotland, 
the  relatively  low  connections  between  one 
valley  system  and  another  greatly  facilitating 
communication,  and  usually  carrying  both 
road  and  railway,  where  the  latter  exists. 
Such  connections  between  two  drainage 
systems  (that  is,  the  existence  of  a  very  low 
divide  between  the  two)  only  exist  on  a 
small  scale  outside  glaciated  regions,  so  that 


72  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

they,  with  all  their  effects  upon  communica- 
tions, must  be  largely  ascribed  to  ice-action. 
We  shall  describe  one  case  in  a  little  detail, 
with  the  proviso  that  while  no  one  denies 
the  frequency  of  such  passes  in  glaciated 
regions,  some  authorities  believe  that  their 
production  was  due  more  to  glacial  torrents 
than  to  the  erosive  action  of  ice  itself. 

A  very  pretty  example  is  the  picturesque 
pass  known  as  the  Gemmi,  which  is  traversed 
only  by  a  mule  path,  and  connects  Kandersteg, 
and  thus  the  lake  of  Thun  and  the  town  of 
Berne,  with  the  Rhone  valley,  which  the  path 
enters  at  the  village  of  Leuk.  The  walk  proper 
is,  however,  over  at  the  Baths  of  Leuk,  a  small 
health  resort  lying  at  the  foot  of  the  great 
Gemmiwand,  a  wall  of  rock  over  1 ,600  feet  in 
height  on  the  summit  of  which  is  the  Gemmi 
pass.  Readers  of  Mark  Twain's  A  Travip 
Abroad  will  remember  his  interesting  descrip- 
tion of  the  crossing  of  the  pass,  which  is  part 
of  the  regulation  tour  in  Switzerland. 

The  excursion  may  be  very  briefly  de- 
scribed. The  traveller  starts  from  the  village 
of  Kandersteg,  and  almost  immediately  be- 
gins a  steep  climb,  which  after  a  rise  of  over 
2,000  feet  leads  him  over  a  ridge  to  a  pasture, 
once  swept  by  an  avalanche.    Another  short 


ICE  AND  ITS  WORK  73 

but  steep  rise  (note  the  staircase  arrange- 
ment) leads  him  to  the  lonely  Daubensee, 
a  little  lake  which  is  frozen  for  more  than  half 
the  year  and  has  no  outlet.  It  is  itself  fed 
by  a  glacier  lying  to  the  traveller's  right, 
the  Laemmern  glacier,  which  is  shrinking 
and  exposing  more  and  more  of  its  old  bed. 
Even  to  the  most  inexperienced  traveller 
it  is  obvious  that  this  present  day  shrinkage 
is,  as  it  were,  the  last  remnant  of  a  shrinkage 
which  has  been  going  on  for  a  prolonged 
period,  so  that  the  route  by  which  the  traveller 
ascended  from  Kandersteg  is  but  a  remnant 
of  the  bed  of  the  old  glacier.  The  point  of 
special  interest,  however,  is  that  at  the  end 
of  the  Daubensee  the  traveller  leaves  the 
glacial  valley  by  which  he  has  ascended,  and 
passing  through  a  great  notch  or  gateway  in 
a  wall  of  rock,  begins  the  almost  precipitous 
descent  to  Leukerbad,  which  lies  at  his  feet, 
1,600  feet  below.  It  is  this  notch  which 
makes  the  pass,  and  it  is  fundamentally  a 
breach  in  the  mountain  wall  which  separates 
the  drainage  of  the  Rhine  from  that  of  the 
Rhone.  Comparing  small  things  with  great 
we  may  note  that  this  gateway  presents 
some  resemblance  to  the  Tyne  and  Aire 
Gaps  in  the  Pennines,  already  mentioned, 


74  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

which  may  also  have  been  modified  by  ice- 
action. 

The  explanation  given  is  as  follows: — At 
the  time  when  the  glaciation  reached  its  maxi- 
mum height  the  mass  of  ice  in  what  is  now  the 
Laemmern  glacier  was  so  great  that  it  could 
not  be  contained  within  its  own  valley.  The 
ice  was  piled  up  so  high  that  it  over-rode 
the  watershed,  rose  up  beyond  the  con- 
taining wall  of  its  own  valley,  and  pushed  a 
long  arm  over  the  valley  wall,  down  into  the 
Rhone  valley.  This  tongue  of  ice,  either 
by  its  own  erosive  power,  or  because  of  the 
glacial  and  sub-glacial  streams  which  it  pro- 
duced, wore  out  a  notch  in  the  wall  as  it 
crossed,  and  it  is  this  notch  which  makes  the 
pass.  As  the  glacier  gradually  shrank,  it  could 
no  longer  send  this  tributary  over  the  wall 
into  the  valley  below,  and  was  constrained  to 
send  all  its  drainage  into  its  own  valley,  that 
is  ultimately  into  the  Rhine.  But  the  Gemmi 
pass  persists  as  a  proof  of  its  former  magni- 
tude, of  the  fact  that  once  part  of  the  Laem- 
mern drainage  reached  the  Mediterranean 
instead  of  the  North  Sea,  that  there  was  once 
a  communication  between  the  Rhine  and 
the  Rhone  drainage  systems. 

Many  at  least  of  the  great  Alpine  passes 


ICE  AND  ITS  WORK  75 

are  believed  to  have  been  produced  in  this 
way,  and  therefore  we  must  add  to  the 
peculiarities  of  recently-glaciated  countries, 
the  fact  that  passes  are  likely  to  be  frequent 
across  their  hills  and  valleys,  owing  to 
the  power  which  ice  possesses,  when  enor- 
mously developed,  of  rising  above  valley 
walls,  and  streaming  down  into  another  valley 
system.  Some  of  the  great  Alpine  passes, 
perhaps,  arose  in  other  ways,  but  this  brief 
description  may  be  of  interest  as  suggesting 
one,  probably  common,  mode  of  origin. 

If  we  sum  up  what  has  been  said  as  to  the 
special  features  of  glaciated  regions,  we  may 
note  that  their  valleys  tend  to  be  U-shaped, 
and  to  be  discontinuous  with  their  tributary 
valleys,  which  "  hang  "  over  them.  On  the 
top  of  the  cliff  from  which  these  tributary 
streams  leap  is  a  shelf,  which  is  clearly  a 
portion  of  the  floor  of  the  pre-glacial  valley 
and  is  covered  by  glacial  debris.  At  the 
heads  of  the  valleys  there  are  often  cirques  or 
plateaux,  which  again  are  markedly  discord- 
ant, hanging  high  above  the  valley  below.  In 
the  main  valley  itself  there  are  similar  dis- 
cordances, giving  rise  to  a  staircase  arrange- 
ment.   Finally,  different  valley  systems  often 


76  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

communicate  with  each  other  by  passes, 
natural  highways  which  hang  high  above 
both  valley  systems  alike. 

Obviously,  however,  we  might  replace  this 
detailed  summary  by  the  simple  statement 
that  whereas  in  a  region  subjected  only  to 
the  action  of  running  water,  there  is  a  marked 
tendency  to  continuity  of  slopes  throughout, 
a  tendency  more  and  more  marked  the  longer 
the  water  acts,  in  glaciated  regions  there  is 
an  equally  obvious  discordance,  a  discon- 
tinuity of  slope,  most  marked  where  water 
has  not  had  time  to  begin  its  smoothing 
action.  As  every  glaciated  valley  which 
we  can  study  in  detail  has  been  subjected  to 
the  action  both  of  ice  and  of  water,  it  is  a 
simple  deduction  that  the  discontinuity  is 
due  to  the  differential  action  of  the  two. 
This  is  the  point  of  geographical  importance, 
and  to  the  geographer  it  is  of  minor  impor- 
tance to  know  whether  it  is  the  passive  re- 
sistance of  the  ice  which  has  caused  the 
discontinuity,  or  whether  it  is  the  water 
which  has  been  unable  to  keep  pace  with 
the  activity  of  the  ice. 

There  is  one  other  point  which  must  be 
alluded    to  even  in  this    very  brief  consid- 


ICE  AND   ITS  WORK  77 

eration  of  the  effect  of  the  ice  age  upon  the 
physical  geography  of  the  glaciated  regions. 
This  is  the  fact  that  it  greatly  modified  the 
numbers  and  distribution  of  plants  and  ani- 
mals throughout  the  areas  affected.  Obvi- 
ously the  covering  of  ice  must  have  rendered 
a  large  part  of  Europe  uninhabitable  both  for 
man  and  for  the  vast  majority  of  animals  and 
plants.  In  Europe,  therefore,  as  also  in  North 
America,  there  must  have  been  a  southward 
sweep  of  all  living  organisms,  driven  from 
their  original  habitat  by  the  onset  of  the  cold 
period.  But  the  conditions  in  the  two  conti- 
nents differed  greatly. 

In  North  America,  especially  in  the  east, 
there  are  no  transverse  chains  of  mountains, 
there  is  no  southern  sea  until  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  is  reached  in  lat.  30°,  and  even  here 
Florida  almost  touches  the  tropic,  and  Mexico 
extends  far  beyond  it.  In  this  continent, 
therefore,  the  plants  and  animals,  though 
driven  far  to  the  south,  still  found  room  to 
live  and  multiply,  and  had  no  great  obstacle 
to  cross  either  in  their  southward  journey, 
or  when  they  strove  to  re-annex  their  old 
territory  as  the  cold  conditions  passed  away 
again. 


78  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  forest  trees  of 
eastern  Asia  and  of  eastern  North  America 
show  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  one  an- 
other, and  both  regions  are  very  rich  in 
species  and  in  genera.  It  is  believed  that 
this  rich  North  American  flora  is  a  rem- 
nant of  pre-glacial  conditions,  and  that  its 
persistence  is  due  to  the  ease  with  which 
the  trees  obtained  an  asylum  to  the  south 
during  the  period  when  the  climate  was  most 
severe. 

In  Europe,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
winter  climate  is  much  milder  than  in  corre- 
sponding latitudes  in  North  America,  the 
number  of  kinds  of  forest  trees  is  much  less, 
there  is  little  resemblance  to  those  of  Asia 
and  the  eastern  United  States,  and  the  trees 
have  generally  a  less  southern  aspect.  This 
is  the  more  remarkable  in  that  trees  of 
southern  facies  introduced  from  China  and 
Japan  and  from  the  United  States  thrive 
admirably  in  Europe,  showing  that  there  is 
no  climatic  obstacle  to  their  presence  there. 
To  mention  only  a  few  examples,  the  Tree  of 
Heaven  (Ailanthus  glandulosa),  so  very  com- 
mon, even  as  a  wild  tree  in  many  parts  of 
the  continent  of  Europe,  was  introduced  from 


ICE  AND  ITS  WORK  79 

China,  while  the  beautiful  Sophora  japonica, 
so  frequently  planted  in  towns,  comes,  as 
its  name  indicates,  from  Japan,  and  the 
various  species  of  those  beautiful  flowering 
trees  known  as  Catalpa  are  either  American 
or  Asiatic.  The  western  plane  {Platanus 
occidentalis),  another  favourite  town  tree, 
comes  from  the  United  States,  and  other 
American  trees  which  are  found  very  abund- 
antly in  towns  in  the  warmer  parts  of  Europe 
are  the  black  walnut  and  the  honey  locust 
(Gleditschia  tricanthos).  Perhaps  more  strik- 
ing than  any  of  these  is  the  case  of  the 
so-called  false  acacia  (Robinia  pseudacacia) , 
which  is  as  common  over  a  great  part  of  the 
continent  of  Europe  as  hawthorn  bushes  or 
wild  roses  are  with  us,  and  yet  is  a  North 
American  species,  introduced  less  than  three 
hundred  years  ago.  Generally,  we  may  say 
that  all  the  more  beautiful  trees  now  growing 
in  the  warmer  parts  of  Europe  come  either 
from  eastern  Asia  or  from  the  United  States. 
In  other  words,  the  Ice  Age  seems  to  have 
greatly  impoverished  the  flora  of  Europe. 
To  a  less  extent  this  is  also  true  of  western 
North  America,  which  has  fewer  species  of 
trees  than  the  east. 


80  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

Why  had  the  ice  this  impoverishing  effect 
upon  Europe?  The  topography  of  the  con- 
tinent supplies  the  answer.  In  the  first 
place,  in  Europe  there  are  numerous  trans- 
verse chains  of  mountains.  The  Pyrenees, 
the  Alps,  the  Caucasus,  each  with  its  load  of 
ice,  each  with  glaciers  deploying  on  the  low 
ground  at  its  feet,  must  have  been  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  the  southern  migration  alike 
of  plants  and  of  animals.  Again,  even  if 
these  obstacles  were  passed  or  turned,  the 
great  inland  sea  formed  another  barrier 
further  south.  In  consequence  of  this  diffi- 
culty in  finding  asylums  the  pre-glacial 
plants  and  animals  must  have  perished  in 
considerable  numbers,  and  thus  a  general 
impoverishment  took  place.  One  must  not 
of  course  exaggerate.  A  proportion  of  the 
pre-glacial  forms  did  succeed  in  living  through 
the  period  of  stress,  but  many  must  have 
been,  as  it  were,  squeezed  out  of  Europe  or 
out  of  existence  by  the  unfavourable  climatic 
conditions. 

As  the  climate  improved  the  lands  swept 
bare  once  again  became  inhabitable,  and 
there  was  a  recolonisation  by  movements 
from  the  south  and  from  the  east.    We  shall 


ICE  AND  ITS  WORK  81 

indicate  later  how  man  himself  came  from 
the  south  and  the  east  to  colonise  the  west 
and  north,  but  his  movements  were  only 
part  of  a  great  series  which  included  also 
those  of  plants  and  animals. 


CHAPTER  IV 

CLIMATE   AND   WEATHER 

To  the  superficial  observer  those  daily 
variations  in  the  atmospheric  conditions  in 
any  one  locality  which  we  sum  up  under 
the  term  weather,  may  appear  to  occur  with- 
out order  or  regularity,  but  detailed  quanti- 
tive  study  soon  shows  that  even  British 
weather  displays  constancy  in  its  irregularity. 
The  existence  of  such  basal  constancy,  indeed, 
lies  at  the  root  of  all  intelligent  utilisation  of 
the  soil.  The  irresponsible  amateur  gardener 
may  lightheartedly  assume  that  a  particular 
spring  will  be  "early,"  but  the  professional 
is  not  easily  induced  to  abandon  his  rule  that 
such  and  such  operations  must  not  be  under- 
taken before  certain  fixed  dates.  The  farmer, 
if  he  is  to  avoid  bankruptcy,  must  know 
within  what  limits  the  first  autumn  frost  is 

82 


CLIMATE  AND   WEATHER  83 

likely  to  make  its  appearance,  and  when  the 
last  spring  one  may  be  expected. 

Collective  experience,  then  whether  ex- 
pressed in  the  meteorologist's  figures  or  in  a 
less  accurate  form,  leads  us  to  the  conclusion 
that  for  every  locality  on  the  earth's  surface 
there  is  a  certain  fixed  average  succession  of 
weather,  which  we  sum  up  in  the  term  climate. 

In  the  case  of  both  climate  and  weather  our 
knowledge  may  be  summed  up  in  such  general 
terms  as  "wet"  or  "dry,"  "warm"  or 
"cold,"  and  so  forth,  or  we  may  borrow  the 
meteorologist's  notations,  and  express  the 
facts  in  degrees  of  temperature,  inches  of 
rainfall  and  of  pressure,  percentages  of  hu- 
midity, and  so  on.  But  it  should  be  under- 
stood that  such  figures  can  be  used  by  the 
geographer  with  justification  only  when  he 
is  himself  aware,  and  can  assume  that  his 
audience  is  aware,  of  the  significance  of  the 
figures  in  connection  with  the  processes  of 
erosion  and  the  phenomena  of  life.  To  say 
that  the  mean  January  temperature  of  a  par- 
ticular place  is  30°  F.,  is  only  a  convenient 
shorthand  way  of  saying  that  in  this  place  in 
winter  plant  life  is  arrested,  water  is  ice- 
bound, and  most  animals  sleep  or  migrate. 
In  other  words,  the  use  of  the  figures  assumes 


84  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

a  certain  knowledge  of  biology  and  of  physics 
on  the  part  of  the  audience. 

We  do  not  propose  here  to  treat  either 
climate  or  weather  with  any  fullness,  for  there 
is  a  volume  in  the  series  specially  devoted  to 
these  and  kindred  subjects.  All  that  will  be 
attempted,  therefore,  is  to  discuss  one  or  two 
important  climates  with  the  object  of  consid- 
ering later  their  respective  effects  on  the  dis- 
tribution of  other  phenomena  on  the  surface 
of  the  globe.  This  is  the  more  worth  doing  in 
that  the  subject  is  one  which  has  had  a  great 
deal  of  attention  devoted  to  it  in  recent  years. 

Certain  points  in  regard  to  climate,  e.  g. 
the  fact  that  the  regions  of  the  earth  near  the 
equator  get  more  solar  heat  than  those 
nearer  the  poles,  and  that  parts  of  the  globe 
are  subjected  to  variable  winds,  as  contrasted 
with  those  regions  where  the  extraordinarily 
regular  winds  called  "trades"  blow,  have 
of  course  been  known  for  long  enough.  But 
not  till  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury did  the  civilised  nations  begin  regular 
meteorological  observations,  and  these  obser- 
vations are  still  scanty  for  the  uncivilised 
and  partially  civilised  regions.  The  meteoro- 
logical raw  material  necessary  for  the  exact 
study  of  climates  has  thus  only  been  avail- 


CLIMATE  AND  WEATHER  85 

able  for  a  comparatively  short  period,  and  is 
still  incomplete. 

We  may  begin  with  that  type  of  climate 
which  has  so  profoundly  influenced  the 
civilisation  of  western  Europe,  and  therefore 
also  the  new  civilisations  of  America,  Aus- 
tralia, South  Africa,  and  so  on.  This  is 
the  type  called  Mediterranean,  because  it 
reaches  its  best  development  and  has  been 
most  studied  round  the  Mediterranean  area. 
But  it  also  occurs  in  California,  in  parts 
of  Chile,  in  South  Africa  round  Cape  Colony, 
and  in  south  and  south-western  Australia. 
Generally,  it  is  characteristic  of  lands  lying 
on  the  western  side  of  continents,  in  the 
latitudes  between  tropical  and  temperate,  and 
is  therefore  sometimes  called  the  maritime 
sub-tropical  climate.  The  term  maritime  is 
applied  because,  as  we  shall  see,  for  some  part 
of  the  year  oceanic  influences  prevail,  sub- 
tropical indicates  the  position  in  latitude. 

A  very  curious  illustration  of  the  similarity 
of  climate  in  the  different  regions  named  is 
to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  in  parts  of  the 
Mediterranean  area  two  introduced  American 
plants,  the  agave  and  the  prickly  pear,  are 
more  obvious  and  abundant  than  most  native 
plants;  while  in  California,  Cape  Colony  and 


86  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

southern  Australia  the  cultivated  plants  are 
chiefly  of  Mediterranean  origin. 

The  main  features  of  the  Mediterranean 
climate  may  be  briefly  summarised.  The 
most  important  character,  next  to  the  mild 
temperature,  is  the  fact  that  no  rain  (or  very 
little)  falls  in  summer,  the  growing  season 
further  north,  which  is  here  largely  a  period 
of  cessation  of  plant  growth.  The  rain, 
which  tends  to  be  scanty  or  even  absent  in 
the  interior  of  land  masses,  e.  g.  in  Spain  and 
Asia  Minor,  and  also  to  the  south,  e.  g.  in  the 
Desert  of  Sahara,  in  the  Mediterranean  region 
proper  falls  in  the  winter  months.  It  is  this 
winter  rainfall  and  the  summer  drought  which 
define  the  Mediterranean  type  of  climate. 

The  reason  for  this  seasonal  distribution 
of  rainfall  is  as  interesting  as  the  fact  itself, 
and  to  understand  it  we  must  turn  to  the  cir- 
culation of  air  on  the  surface  of  the  globe. 

In  the  following  description  we  shall  restrict 
ourselves,  for  the  sake  of  clearness,  to  the 
Mediterranean  region  itself,  the  region  where 
the  Mediterranean  type  of  climate  is  devel- 
oped over  the  largest  area,  and  where,  for 
many  reasons,  it  is  most  important.  But  it 
must  be  noted  that  the  conditions  which  give 
rise  to  the  Mediterranean  type  of  climate  are 


CLIMATE  AND  WEATHER  87 

the  same  wherever  it  occurs,  though  in  the 
Mediterranean  area  they  are  greatly  modified 
by  the  great  inland  sea  of  that  name,  which 
carries  oceanic  conditions  far  into  the 
land. 

We  must  note,  first,  that  at  all  seasons 
those  regions  of  the  earth  which  are  directly 
beneath  the  vertical  rays  of  the  sun  are  heated 
most  intensely.  Therefore  the  air  over  these 
regions,  being  rendered  light  by  heating,  rises, 
and  a  belt  of  low  pressure  is  thus  formed. 
Only  at  the  equinoxes  does  this  belt  of  high 
temperature,  low  pressure,  and  light  winds 
or  calms,  coincide  with  the  equator.  In  the 
northern  summer  it  moves  north  with  the  sun; 
in  the  northern  winter  it  travels  south  with 
the  sun,  being  always  over  what  is  called  the 
heat  equator.  Into  this  belt  of  low  pressure 
air  from  north  and  south,  where  the  pressure 
is  greater,  tends  to  rush  in,  and  we  have  thus 
formed  the  constant  or  "trade"  winds, 
which,  owing  to  the  deflection  produced  by 
the  earth's  rotation,  appear  as  the  north-east 
trades  in  the  northern  hemisphere  and  the 
south-east  in  the  south.  These  winds  are 
dry  winds,  because  they  blow  from  colder 
to  warmer  latitudes,  and  they  accompany 


88  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

the  equatorial  low-pressure  belt  in  its  north 
and  south  movements. 

In  the  northern  summer  the  trade  winds 
may  extend  northward  to  lat.  35°  or  even 
40°,  while  in  winter  their  northern  limit  is 
10°  to  15°  further  south.  A  glance  at  the 
map,  then,  will  show  that  in  summer  the 
Mediterranean  area  is  within  or  near  the 
sphere  of  action  of  the  dry  trade  winds,  which 
are  continental,  sweeping  into  the  region 
after  having  blown  over  land  surfaces. 

We  must  next  consider  the  atmospheric 
movements  in  the  region  to  the  north  of  the 
trade  wind  belt.  An  area  of  more  or  less  per- 
manent low  pressure,  best  marked  in  winter, 
exists  in  the  North  Atlantic,  in  about  60°  N. 
lat.,  and  draws  the  air  into  it  in  the  direc- 
tion known  as  counterclockwise,  that  is,  in 
the  direction  opposite  to  that  of  the  hands  of 
the  clock.  The  result  is  the  production  of  the 
winds  which  appear  off  the  coast  of  western 
Europe  as  the  warm  south-westerly  winds  of 
winter,  while  they  appear  off  the  coast  of 
North  America  as  cold  northerly  winds.  In 
the  southern  hemisphere,  where,  as  we  have 
seen,  there  is  less  land  to  interfere  with  the 
development  of  the  atmospheric  circulation, 
these  winds  form  the  prevailing  westerlies. 


CLIMATE  AND  WEATHER  89 

In  the  Atlantic  these  south-westerly  winds 
obviously  blow  in  a  direction  opposite  to  the 
north-east  trades,  whence  the  name  of  anti- 
trades often  given  to  them.  As  they  blow 
across  the  broad  Atlantic  they  arrive  off 
Europe  saturated  with  moisture.  As  they 
come  from  lower  latitudes  they  are  warmth 
bringing.  In  winter  these  winds  reach  the 
Mediterranean  area  owing  to  the  southern 
shift  of  the  trades,  and  bring  moisture  with 
them;  while  in  summer  they  lie  more  to  the 
north,  and  though  their  moisture  affects  the 
coast  of  Portugal  it  does  not  reach  the  greater 
part  of  the  Mediterranean  area. 

Within  that  area  the  northern  limit  of  the 
rainless  summer  may  be  said,  in  a  rough 
sense,  to  correspond  with  about  the  40th 
parallel  of  latitude,  though  it  varies  accord- 
ing to  local  conditions  in  the  different  penin- 
sulas. To  the  north  of  this  line,  therefore, 
the  climate  is  more  or  less  affected  even  in 
summer  by  the  anti-trades. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  region 
of  the  trade  winds  and  of  the  anti-trades 
lie  side  by  side.  Between  the  two  there  is  a 
zone  of  variable  winds,  but  in  general  terms 
we  can  explain  the  peculiarities  of  the  Medi- 
terranean rainfall  by  saying  that  the  region 


90  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

lies  within  or  just  at  the  edge  of  the  dry  trades 
in  summer,  and  within  the  zone  of  the  moist 
anti-trades  in  winter. 

Let  us  next  consider  how  the  area  is  de- 
marcated from  the  surrounding  regions. 
There  is  of  course  no  hard  and  fast  line,  but 
we  can  indicate  in  broad  outline  the  meteoro- 
logical limits.  To  take  the  absolutely  rain- 
less summer  as  the  limit  would  cut  out,  as 
we  have  suggested  above,  the  greater  part  of 
the  northern  shore  of  the  Mediterranean,  ex- 
cept the  southern  halves  of  all  the  great  penin- 
sulas. Quite  generally,  however,  we  may 
say  that  the  northern  limit  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean region,  in  its  western  half,  is  defined 
by  the  occurrence  of  considerable  summer 
rain.  That  is,  it  is  bounded  to  the  north  by 
a  region  which  is  within  reach  of  the  rain- 
bringing  anti-trades  in  summer  as  well  as  in 
winter,  and  which  has  a  lower  temperature 
than  the  Mediterranean  region  proper.  To 
the  east  the  region  is  limited  by  deserts,  for 
the  westerlies  of  winter  can  only  carry  their 
moisture  a  certain  distance  inwards,  and 
though  they  are  greatly  assisted  by  the  long, 
eastward-stretching,  inland  sea,  yet  there 
comes  a  time  when  all  their  load  of  moisture 
is  lost,  and  desert  conditions  supervene. 


CLIMATE  AND  WEATHER  91 

To  the  south  the  desert  again  forms  the 
boundary,  though  here  for  a  different  cause. 
North  Africa  behind  the  Atlas  is  permanently 
within  the  trade-wind  belt,  that  is,  it  is  per- 
manently subjected  to  the  action  of  drying 
winds,  and  its  rainfall  is  therefore  small  or  nil. 
Similarly  in  California  the  southern  limit  of 
the  Mediterranean  zone  of  climate  is  the  des- 
ert region  of  Arizona,  Mexico,  and  the  north 
of  Lower  California.  A  similar  band  of  des- 
ert separates  the  Mediterranean  zone  from  the 
tropical  region  of  summer  rain  in  the  other 
places  where  the  Mediterranean  type  occurs. 

This  may  be  summed  up  as  follows: — 
Defining  the  Mediterranean  climate  only  by 
its  rainfall,  we  may  say  that  it  prevails  over 
lands  both  to  the  north  and  south  of  that 
sea,  and  these  have  all  or  most  of  their  rain- 
fall in  winter,  when  the  winds,  though  typi- 
cally westerly,  are  often  stormy  and  rendered 
variable  by  local  conditions.  In  the  summer 
there  may  be  no  rain  at  all,  or,  to  the  north, 
small  amounts.  To  the  north  the  region 
passes  gradually  into  that  colder  zone  where 
rain  occurs  abundantly  both  in  summer  and 
winter,  while  to  the  east  and  south  the  rain- 
fall diminishes  greatly,  and  there  is  a  gradual 
transition    to    desert    conditions.      To    the 


92  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

west  the  boundary  of  the  region  is  theoreti- 
cally the  ocean,  but  the  western  coastline 
owes  to  its  peculiar  position  a  more  abundant 
precipitation,  which  makes  the  vegetation 
of,  e.  g.,  Portugal  present  quite  a  different 
appearance  from  that  of  southern  Italy  or 
Algiers.  These  peculiarities  of  rainfall  the 
region  owes  to  its  position  between  two  great 
wind  systems,  of  which  one  gains  the  mastery 
in  winter  and  the  other  in  summer. 

So  far  in  this  discussion  we  have  spoken 
only  of  the  distribution  of  the  rainfall 
throughout  the  year,  but  there  are  other 
features  of  the  Mediterranean  climate  which 
are  almost  as  important  in  considering  the 
effects  of  the  climate  on  the  life  of  the  region. 
These  are  the  amount  of  the  rainfall,  and 
the  temperature. 

Beginning  with  general  points,  it  is  very 
important  to  notice  that  the  rainfall  through- 
out the  area  as  a  whole  is  relatively  scanty, 
except  where  special  conditions,  e.  g.  great 
elevation,  or  local  rain-bringing  winds,  in- 
crease it.  Translated  into  terms  of  plant 
life  this  means  that  continuous  forests  of  the 
type  so  characteristic  of  the  greater  part  of 
Europe  till  man  interfered,  are  relatively  rare 
within  the  limits  of  the  Mediterranean  region. 


CLIMATE  AND  WEATHER  93 

Looking  at  the  same  fact  from  the  human 
standpoint  we  may  say  that  the  rainfall  is 
often  so  scanty  that  irrigation  is  necessary 
before  man  can  prosper.  These  two  facts, 
that  Mediterranean  man  had  not  to  clear 
forests  before  he  planted  and  sowed,  as  the 
Teutons  were  obliged  to  do,  and  that  he  had 
often  to  bring  water  artificially  before  his 
crops  would  grow,  have  been  of  supreme 
importance  in  the  evolution  of  Mediterranean 
civilisation.  Even  at  this  stage  it  is  interest- 
ing to  note  that  France  in  this,  as  in  many 
other  respects,  has  shared  in  two  civilisations, 
for  her  territory  to  the  south  shows  Mediter- 
ranean characters,  and  elsewhere  resembles 
the  cool  temperate  zone  of  Europe. 

The  next  general  point  of  importance  is 
.that  of  temperature.  As  was  to  be  expected 
from  its  latitude  the  basin  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean is  a  relatively  warm  region.  Local 
conditions,  and  especially  the  presence  of  a 
great  mass  of  water,  make  the  winter  excep- 
tionally mild,  while  the  summers,  though  not 
excessively  hot  they  are  considerably  cooler 
than  those  of  similar  latitudes  in  Asia,  are 
yet  warm  and  sunny.  The  result  is  that, 
given   water   artificially   supplied,   or  given 


94  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

crops  which  can  take  water  from  the  deeper 
layers  of  the  soil,  the  region  is  productive, 
the  destructive  frost  of  the  north  not  being 
a  menace.  This  relative  easiness  of  life  in 
the  more  favoured  parts  of  the  region  has 
been  of  great  importance  in  its  history. 

We  may  give  next  some  actual  figures  to 
illustrate  what  has  been  said  about  tempera- 
ture and  rainfall.  Let  us  begin  with  rainfall, 
and  in  order  to  have  a  basis  of  comparison 
we  may  first  note  that  Edinburgh  has  a  mean 
annual  rainfall  of  about  28  inches,  and  Lon- 
don one  of  about  25  inches.  In  other  words, 
when  the  total  amount  of  rain  which  falls  in 
any  one  year  is  estimated  for  many  years  in 
either  of  these  places,  these  totals  added 
together  and  divided  by  the  number  of  years 
of  observation,  the  quotient  is  the  figure 
given.  The  figures  show  that  the  rainfall 
in  London  is  less  than  that  in  Edinburgh, 
while  in  Paris  it  is  less  than  in  either. 

Passing  now  to  consider  the  Mediterra- 
nean area  we  find  that,  speaking  generally, 
the  rainfall  diminishes,  for  the  reasons  already 
explained,  in  passing  from  west  to  east,  and 
in  passing  from  north  to  south.  Thus  Gibral- 
tar, at  one  end  of  the  basin  has  a  fall  of  32" 


CLIMATE  AND   WEATHER  95 

per  annum,  as  compared  with  one  of  15"  at 
Athens  near  the  other  extremity.  Genoa  in 
the  north  has  the  heavy  fall  of  51",  while 
Biskra  in  Algiers  has  only  8". 

There  are  many  local  variations,  due  to 
local  causes,  and  in  comparing  the  falls  with 
those  of  Edinburgh  and  London  we  must 
remember  that  the  higher  temperatures  mean 
much  greater  evaporation.  Sunny  Naples 
has  about  4"  more  rain  in  the  year  than 
Edinburgh,  and  has  7"  more  than  foggy 
London,  but  yet  has  not  a  wet  climate. 

For  temperatures  a  few  figures  may  suffice. 
In  London  the  mean  January  temperature 
is  39°  F.,  while  it  is  only  36°  F.  at  Paris.  In 
Nice  the  mean  January  temperature  is  45°, 
which  is  about  the  same  as  that  of  Athens, 
and  rather  less  than  that  of  Naples.  In  Jan- 
uary, then,  the  temperature  of  Nice  is  only 
6°  higher  than  that  of  London.  In  July  the 
mean  temperature  at  London  is  62°,  as  against 
73°  at  Nice  and  over  80°  at  Athens.  In  other 
words,  owing  to  our  mild  winters  and  cool 
summers,  there  is  far  more  difference  between 
British  and  Mediterranean  temperatures  in 
summer  than  in  winter.  In  the  Mediterra- 
nean region  itself  the  difference  between  the 


96  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

temperatures  of  summer  and  winter  increases 
as  we  pass  eastwards,  so  that  it  is  especially 
to  the  west  that  characteristically  Mediter- 
ranean conditions  occur,  i.  e.  mild,  frost-free 
winters,  and  summers  which  for  the  latitude 
are  not  excessively  hot.  This  feature  also  has 
been  of  importance  in  the  development  of 
the  Mediterranean  civilisations. 

We  have  treated  the  climate  of  the  Medi- 
terranean area  in  some  detail,  as  an  ex- 
ample of  the  methods  and  results  of  modern 
climatology.  We  may  note  much  more 
briefly  the  characteristics  of  one  or  two  other 
climatic  provinces. 

Mediterranean  influences,  expressed  in 
winter  rains,  are  continued  eastward  into 
Mesopotamia  and  even  into  Persia,  the  rain 
always  becoming  scantier,  and  desert  condi- 
tions tending  to  supervene.  Still  further 
east,  however,  we  come  to  a  region  where  the 
rainfall  is  abundant,  and  where  the  popula- 
tion is  once  more  dense.  These  are  the  mon- 
soon countries,  including  India  and  China, 
where  the  usually  plentiful  rainfall  again  per- 
mits the  land  to  nourish  man  abundantly. 

Excluding  Africa  south  of  the  Sahara  from 
consideration,  we  may  indeed  say  that  the 


CLIMATE  AND  WEATHER  97 

Old  World  has  two  regions  of  abundant  rain- 
fall and  dense  population,  the  one  to  the  west 
and  the  other  to  the  south-east,  separated 
from  each  other  by  warm  and  cold  deserts. 
Each  of  these  two  regions  has  given  rise  to  its 
own  civilisation,  each  has  produced  its  own 
types  of  cultivated  plants  and  domestic 
animals,  and  the  root  differences  between  the 
two  must  be  regarded  as  largely  the  result 
of  climatic  conditions. 

The  monsoon  countries  are  so  named 
because  of  the  regular  seasonal  reversal  of 
the  winds,  which  blow  from  land  to  sea  in 
winter  and  from  sea  to  land  in  summer, 
affording  an  example  of  a  land  and  sea  breeze 
on  the  gigantic  scale.  The  result  is  that, 
subject  to  local  modifications,  the  summer 
winds  are  moisture-bringing,  and  the  winter 
winds  are  dry.  Whereas,  then,  in  the  Medi- 
terranean the  heat  of  summer  is  largely 
wasted,  from  the  agriculturist's  point  of  view, 
on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  the  water  neces- 
sary for  growth,  in  monsoon  regions,  unless 
the  rain  fail,  as  it  sometimes  does,  the  hot 
season  is  the  moist  season,  and,  therefore, 
other  things  being  equal,  growth  must  be 
faster  here  than  in  the  Mediterranean  area. 


98  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

The  monsoon  countries  extend  over  a  great 
stretch  of  latitude,  and  therefore  temperature 
conditions  vary  greatly,  while  the  great 
variety  of  surface-relief  produces  here  abnor- 
mally heavy  rainfall,  and  there  desert  condi- 
tions. The  essential  contrast  with  the  Medi- 
terranean type  is,  however,  the  summer 
rainfall. 

Taking  the  globe  as  a  whole  we  find  that 
summer  rainfall  is  more  common  than  winter, 
and  in  addition  to  occurring  in  monsoon 
regions,  it  tends  to  occur  in  tropical  regions 
generally.  As  we  approach  the  equator  from 
the  tropics  we  find  that  the  total  fall  in- 
creases, and  tends  to  show  two  maxima,  which 
occur  when  the  sun  is  overhead,  i.  e.  at  the 
equinoxes.  For  our  particular  purpose,  how- 
ever, the  climatic  conditions  in  tropical  and 
equatorial  regions  generally,  though  of  great 
importance  to  the  climatologist,  are  not  of 
great  interest,  for  except  in  monsoon  coun- 
tries the  hot  parts  of  the  earth  do  not  show 
the  most  highly  developed  human  societies. 

Let  us  turn  next  to  that  part  of  Europe 
which  is  outside  the  reach  of  Mediterranean 
influences.  Here  we  find  that  the  rain  is 
distributed  throughout  the  year,  and  is  usu- 


CLIMATE  AND   WEATHER  99 

ally  abundant,  though  it  decreases  in  passing 
eastwards  from  the  seaboard.  Temperatures 
are  naturally  lower  than  in  the  Mediterranean 
basin,  and  winter  frost  plays  an  important 
part  in  determining  the  choice  of  cultivated 
plants.  As  the  figures  which  we  have  already 
quoted  for  London  and  Paris  suggest,  the 
winter  cold  increases  on  passing  eastward. 
Paris  is  colder  in  winter  than  London,  though 
it  lies  south  of  it.  Vienna  is  again  colder  than 
Paris.  But  the  increase  in  winter  cold  is 
compensated  for  by  an  increase  in  the  summer 
heat.  In  other  words,  as  the  distance  from 
the  sea  increases  in  Europe  the  climate  be- 
comes drier  and  more  extreme. 

This  observation  naturally  leads  up  to  a 
consideration  of  the  effect  of  the  proximity 
of  the  sea  upon  climate.  Water  heats  more 
slowly  than  land,  but  also  cools  more  slowly, 
and  therefore  the  proximity  of  large  masses 
of  water  has,  speaking  generally,  a  modera- 
ting influence  upon  climate,  producing  the  so- 
called  maritime  climate.  In  the  case  of  the 
British  Isles  this  effect  is  very  marked,  be- 
cause the  ocean  to  the  west  of  us  is  unusually 
warm,  and  the  circulation  of  the  atmosphere 
is  such  that  the  prevailing  winds  of  winter 


100  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

blow  towards  us  from  the  warmer  parts  of 
this  ocean,  while  the  fact  that  the  summer 
winds  often  have  a  northerly  component  helps 
to  keep  the  summer  temperatures  down. 

The  peculiar  conditions  of  the  British 
Islands  illustrate  the  fact  that  climate  does 
not  depend  upon  latitude  alone,  but  may  be 
greatly  modified  by  local  conditions,  espe- 
cially by  the  distribution  of  land  and  water, 
and  the  direction  of  the  wind. 

Let  us  now  sum  up  what  has  been  said  in 
regard  to  the  main  types  of  climate  found  in 
Europe.  Round  the  Mediterranean  basin 
we  have  an  area  with  mild  winters  and  warm 
summers,  where  the  rain  tends  to  fall  during 
the  winter  season,  making  summer  a  period 
of  drought.  This  climate  extends  beyond 
the  limits  of  Europe  into  Northern  Africa  and 
Western  Asia,  and  is  separated  from  the 
regions  of  tropical  climate,  which  have  no 
winter  and  have  rains  at  the  hottest  season, 
by  a  belt  of  desert. 

The  western  seaboard  of  Europe  has  a 
maritime  climate,  the  sea  tempering  the 
winter,  but  diminishing  the  summer  heat. 
The  prevailing  winds  are  westerly,  and  the 
rainfall  is  typically  abundant  and  distributed 


CLIMATE  AND  WEATHER        101 

throughout  the  year.  On  passing  inwards  this 
type  of  climate  changes  into  the  continental 
type,  with  cold  winters  and  hot  summers,  and 
diminishing  rainfall.  Though  precipitation 
occurs  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  it  tends  to  be 
greatest  in  summer,  giving,  e.  g.  in  parts  of 
the  Balkan  States,  a  type  eminently  suited 
to  the  cereal  maize,  which  needs  more  sum- 
mer rain  than  wheat. 

If  we  bear  in  mind  that  North  America  is 
a  large  continent,  and  Europe  a  very  small 
one,  and  that  while  Europe  has  no  eastern 
seaboard,  it  is  the  eastern  seaboard  of  America 
which  faces  Europe,  we  may  realise  that  the 
climates  of  North  America  show  a  remarkable 
analogy  to  the  European.  On  the  western 
side  we  have  in  British  Columbia  and  Cali- 
fornia respectively  the  same  two  types  of 
maritime  climate  which  occur  in  Europe, 
that  is,  British  Columbia  has  a  mild  equable 
climate  with  abundant  and  equally  dis- 
tributed rainfall,  and  California  has  a  Medi- 
terranean climate. 

At  the  eastern  side  the  conditions  are  a 
little  different,  and  show  us  that  the  mere 
presence  of  the  sea  is  not  sufficient  to  produce 
a  "maritime"  climate.    The  prevailing  winds 


102  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

in  eastern  North  America  are  off  the  shore; 
they  cannot  therefore  carry  oceanic  influences 
landwards.  To  the  north  the  winds  tend  to 
have  a  northerly  component,  and  cold  cur- 
rents of  water  also  stream  out  of  the  Arctic 
and  chill  eastern  North  America.  The  result 
is  that  we  find  that  Labrador,  though  lying  in 
the  latitude  of  Great  Britain,  has  a  very 
severe  climate.  Further  south  the  conditions 
are  of  the  "continental"  character  even  on 
the  seaboard,  the  winters  being  very  cold  and 
the  summers  hot.  Rainfall  is  equally  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  year,  but  on  passing 
inland  it  diminishes  in  amount  and  tends  to 
be  limited  to  the  warm  season.  The  diminu- 
tion would  be  much  more  obvious  than  it 
actually  is  were  it  not  that  the  existence  of 
the  large  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  also  the  size  of 
the  North  American  continent,  give  rise  in 
the  south  to  a  monsoon  effect,  which  greatly 
increases  the  rainfall  of  the  south-eastern 
corner  of  the  States.  Further  to  the  west, 
in  the  lee  of  the  great  barrier  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  the  rainfall  is  slight. 

Incidentally,  we  may  notice  that  the  east- 
ern seaboard  of  the  great  Eurasian  continent 
also  has  a  more  extreme  climate  than  the 


CLIMATE  AND  WEATHER    103 

western,  offering  in  this  respect  an  analogy  to 
the  conditions  which  prevail  on  the  eastern 
and  western  halves  of  temperate  North 
America.  The  cause  in  both  cases  is  the 
same — the  direction  of  the  prevailing  winds. 
We  cannot  close  this  chapter  without  some 
reference  to  weather,  a  subject  of  more 
geographical  importance  than  is  generally 
realised.  In  speaking  of  climate  we  have 
used  figures  which  were  invariably  means,  i.  e. 
have  been  obtained  by  averaging  a  great 
number  of  observations.  But  where  a  great 
number  of  mean  figures  are  used  in  a  dis- 
cussion, it  is  always  found  that  the  different 
averages  are  based  upon  varying  numbers  of 
observations,  and  are  therefore  not  strictly 
comparable  with  one  another.  There  is 
always  a  risk  that  such  figures  may  mask 
facts  of  real  geographical  importance.  No 
doubt  some  of  the  difficulties  will  disappear 
with  the  progress  of  meteorological  science, 
which  will  enable  the  geographer  only  to 
select  figures  which  are  strictly  comparable. 
Meantime,  however,  observations  for  long 
periods  are  rare,  and  the  meteorologist  must 
be  content  to  take  the  figures  which  are  avail- 
able.   For  this  reason  as  well  as  for  others,  it 


104 


MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 


is  advisable  to  add  to  the  somewhat  abstract 
study  of  means,  that  is,  of  climate,  some  note 
upon  the  actual  conditions,  that  is,  upon 
weather. 


W. 


E  , 


Fig.  10. — Diagram  to  illustrate  a  cyclone  travelling  towards 
the  east.  The  two  concentric  circles  represent  isobars,  that  is, 
they  are  lines  drawn  through  points  where  the  barometer 
registers  the  same  (low)  pressure.  Into  the  area  of  low  pressure 
bo  formed  the  winds  blow  strongly  in  the  direction  known  as 
counterclockwise,  and  are  represented  by  the  arrows  whose 
double  barbs  signify  their  strength.  It  will  be  noted  that  in 
the  rear  of  the  cyclone  the  winds  are  northerly.  They  thus 
chill  the  air  here,  and  by  chilling  it  raise  the  pressure.  The 
winds  to  the  front  of  the  cyclone  are  warm  because  southerly, 
they  therefore  tend  to  lower  the  pressure  here  by  warming  the 
air,  and  the  result  is  that  the  isobars  tend  to  be  displaced 
towards  the  east,  and  at  the  same  time  become  deformed. 
In  other  words,  the  cyclone  moves  to  the  east. 

We  may  take  British  weather,  which  has 
become  a  proverb  on  account  of  its  variable- 
ness, as  a  text  for  a  brief  discussion  of  the 
subject. 


CLIMATE  AND  WEATHER         105 

The  daily  variations  in  our  weather,  as  all 
who  have  read  weather  reports  know,  are 
chiefly  determined  by  the  movements  of  areas 
of  low  pressure  or  cyclones,  which  mostly 
come  to  us  from  the  Atlantic,  and  continue 
eastwards  past  us,  often  towards  the  Baltic. 
We  have  already  noted  the  occurrence  of 
what  we  have  called  a  permanent  area  of 
low  pressure  in  the  North  Atlantic,  but 
this  "permanent  area"  in  point  of  fact  is 
due  chiefly  to  the  constant  passage  here  of 
cyclones,  or  moving  areas  of  low  pressure. 

The  causes  of  the  eastward  displacement 
of  these  depressions  are  interesting.  One 
cause  is  the  general  eastward  movement  of 
the  atmosphere  in  this  region,  produced  in  the 
fashion  already  described.  This  movement 
necessarily  raises  the  pressure  to  the  west  of 
the  depression,  owing  to  the  influx  of  fresh 
air,  while  the  onward  movement  of  the  air 
in  front  of  the  depression  lowers  the  pressure 
there,  and  so  produces  displacement.  Again, 
the  air  is  sucked  into  a  depression  in  the 
direction  opposite  to  the  hands  of  a  clock, 
and  a  moment's  reflection  will  show  that  this 
means  that  the  winds  to  the  east  of  the  depres- 
sion are  southerly  and  those  to  the  west  of 


106  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

it  northerly.  The  warm  southerly  winds  in 
front  tend  to  lower  the  pressure  by  warming 
the  air,  while  the  cold  northerly  winds  behind 
it  raise  the  pressure  by  cooling  the  air.  This 
again  produces  a  displacement  of  the  depres- 
sion towards  the  east  (see  fig.  10). 

The  fact  just  described  has  an  interesting 
practical  result.  If  after  a  day  or  night  of 
storm  and  rain,  the  temperature  falls,  we 
know  that  the  depression  causing  the  storm 
has  passed  us,  and  that  we  are  feeling  the 
effects  of  the  colder  winds  in  its  rear.  If  the 
thermometer  suddenly  rises  again,  then  a  new 
depression  is  approaching,  and  we  are  feeling 
its  warm  breath  before  its  winds  reach  us. 
The  clearness  and  chilliness  of  the  air  after 
a  stormy  or  windy  period  gives  us  one  of  our 
commonest  meteorological  sensations,  and 
produces  a  marked  psychical  effect,  reflected 
in  much  of  our  literature. 

One  other  reason  for  the  eastward  motion 
of  the  cyclones  with  us  is  that  they  seem  to 
prefer  damp  air,  and  so  tend  to  follow  the 
North  Sea  and  pass  towards  the  Baltic,  where 
they  often  die  away. 

In  the  British  area,  though  the  depressions 
move  faster  in  winter  than  in  summer,  they 


CLIMATE  AND  WEATHER    107 

have  only  a  mean  speed  of  about  16  miles  an 
hour,  while  in  the  United  States  their  mean 
speed  is  25  miles  per  hour,  and  their  effects 
are  often  disastrous  except  when  discounted 
by  the  warnings  of  the  Weather  Bureau. 

In  the  case  of  the  British  Isles  cyclones  are 
most  frequent  and  best  marked  in  winter, 
and  they  are  of  great  importance  in  produ- 
cing our  mild  and  windy  winters.  In  summer 
they  travel  further  northwards,  and  as  a  rule 
effect  our  climate  less.  When,  however, 
from  causes  still  inadequately  known,  they 
are  better  marked  in  summer  than  usual,  we 
have  a  "bad"  summer,  that  is,  one  which 
is  wet  and  relatively  windy. 

The  fact  that  the  English  Channel  is 
one  of  the  favourite  tracks  of  cyclones  has 
been  an  important  element  in  protecting 
the  British  Islands  from  foreign  invasion, 
while  we  all  know  that  it  is  also  a  factor 
in  diminishing  free  intercourse  with  the 
Continent. 

The  second  point  of  importance  about  our 
weather  is  the  periodic  occurrence  at  some 
part  of  our  area  of  anticyclones,  or  areas  of 
high  pressure,  out  of  which  the  winds  stream 
gently  in  the  same  direction  as  the  hands  of 


108 


MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 


30*2 

J 
D 

i        BJ 

M    si 

W       8          SJW      N 
It      Bata  J?™     J 

ne    01 

W 
)«r 

39° 

300 

Mean 

A 

Tempeiature  Dec. 

38°1   / 

88° 

29*8 

/ 
/ 
/ 
1 

\ 
\ 
\ 
\ 

37° 

29*6 

Meai 

1 

Press 
/ 

ureDjt 
V 

o.29*f 

I  / 

y 

86° 

29*4 

1 

/ 
l 

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84° 

29"2 

» 

V 

i 
\ 

33° 

290 

1 

oaf 

\ 

i 

32° 

28*8 

1/ 

7 

» 

31° 

28*6 

1 

1 

30° 

28*4 

1 

1 
1 

1 

29° 

Dec.30 

31 

Jan.l 

2 

3 

4 

Fig.  11. — Diagram  showing  the  changes  in  temperature, 
pressure  and  wind  due  to  a  cyclone  passing  to  the  north  of 
a  point  of  observation  A.  The  passage  of  the  cyclone  figured 
occupied  a  period  of  six  days.  It  will  be  noted  that  as  it 
approaches  A  the  wind  is  southerly  and  light  (arrows  with 
single  barbs)  and  the  temperature  high.  As  it  passes  the  winds 
become  violent  (arrows  with  double  barbs),  and  shift  to  the 
south-west,  and  the  barometer  falls  rapidly.  As  it  disappears 
the  pressure  rises,  the  temperature  falls,  and  the  wind  veers 
to  the  north-west,  while  remaining  violent.  The  fall  of  the 
wind  and  its  shifting  to  a  south-westerly  direction  mark  the 
return  to  the  normal  condition  of  affairs,  the  influence  of  the 
cyclone  being  past. 


CLIMATE  AND  WEATHER        109 

the  clock.  These  areas  of  high  pressure  do 
not  display  the  same  tendency  to  move  as  do 
the  cyclones,  and  are  most  frequently  merely 
displaced  by  advancing  cyclones.  For  rea- 
sons into  which  space  does  not  permit  us  to  go 
fully  here,  anticyclones  have  a  very  different 
effect  in  summer  and  in  winter.  In  winter 
they  may  bring  to  us  the  continental  cold, 
and  make  our  weather  abnormally  severe, 
though  often  bright  and  fine.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  summer  they  bring  to  us  continental 
warmth,  so  that  "good"  summers  are  those 
in  which  anticyclonic  conditions  are  most  fre- 
quent, while  "severe'*  winters  are  due  to  the 
same  cause.  Anticyclones  also  sometimes  in- 
duce a  curious  form  of  inversion,  in  that  places 
to  the  north  of  a  given  spot  may  have  tem- 
porarily a  higher  temperature  than  places 
to  the  south.  It  is  such  facts  which  are 
entirely  masked  by  "mean"  figures. 

We  do  not  as  yet  understand  the  causes 
which  make  cyclones  sometimes  more  numer- 
ous or  better  marked  than  usual,  which  cause 
them  sometimes  to  cross  our  area,  and  at 
other  times  to  travel  too  far  north  or  too  far 
south  to  influence  our  weather.  It  is  possible 
that  further  investigation  in  the  future  may 


110 


MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 


unravel  this  problem;  it  is  practically  certain 
that  a  freer  use  of  wireless  telegraphy,  and 
the  establishing  of  meteorological  stations  in 
northern  seas,  would  give  weather  forecasting 


Fig.  12. — British  weather  map  for  Nov.  29, 1910.  A  cyclone 
lies  over  the  south  of  Scandinavia,  and  into  it  the  winds  are 
sweeping  strongly  in  a  counterclockwise  direction.  An  anti- 
cyclone lies  over  Iceland,  and  from  it  the  winds  are  streaming 
gently  in  a  clockwise  direction. 

a  definiteness  and  accuracy  which  it  does  not 
yet  possess. 
We  cannot  follow  this  interesting  subject 


CLIMATE  AND  WEATHER    111 

further  here,  but  we  have  said  enough  to 
illustrate  its  geographical  significance.  As  a 
science  or  sub-science  by  itself  it  will  form 
the  subject  of  a  special  volume  in  this  series. 
It  may  be  enough  to  point  out  that  the  Daily 
Weather  Report,  published  by  the  Meteoro- 
logical Office  at  a  cost  of  one  penny,  and 
reproduced  in  some  daily  newspapers,  is  a 
document  well  worth  the  careful  study  of 
those  with  any  interest  in  geography. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   PRINCIPLES    OF   PLANT    GEOGRAPHY    AND 
THE   CHIEF   PLANT   FORMATIONS   OF 
EUROPE   AND   NORTH   AMERICA 

We  have  now  taken  a  general  survey  of 

the  earth's  surface,  have  noted  its  mountain 

heights  and  its  ocean  depths,  watched  the 

formation  of  hills  and  valleys  which  is  due 

to   the   joint  action  of  atmospheric  agents, 

running  water  and  ice,  and  considered  briefly 

some  of  the  points  of  interest  about  climate. 

We  next  pass   to   that   most   characteristic 

feature  of  the  surface,  its  clothing  of  plants. 

Except  where    the    surface    of    the    ground 

has  been  artificially  sterilised  by  man,  or  is 

rendered   unproductive  by  ice,  by  lava,  by 

a  total  lack  of  water,  or  by  the  existence  of 

poisonous  salts,  it  is  clothed  with  vegetation, 

and    it   is    the   presence    of   this  vegetation 

which  is  its  most  obvious  character. 
112 


PLANT  GEOGRAPHY  113 

Here,  however,  as  in  other  regions  of 
thought,  the  geographical  standpoint  has 
only  been  reached  slowly.  Man's  habit  of 
analysis  made  him  study  grasses  and  trees 
for  long  generations  before  he  got  back  to  the 
forest  and  to  the  grassland  as  they  occur  in 
nature.  Plants  as  individuals  are  the  prov- 
ince of  the  botanist,  but  those  plant  groups 
which  are  the  expression  of  the  interaction 
of  climatic  factors,  soil,  and  surface  relief,  are 
the  concern  of  the  geographer. 

When  we  take  a  general  survey  of  the 
face  of  the  earth  from  the  point  of  view  of 
plant  geography,  we  note  three  main  con- 
ditions. In  certain  regions,  alike  in  the 
tropics  and  in  temperate  zones,  we  find  that 
plants  reach  their  maximum  size,  combined 
with  great  differentiation  of  structure,  and 
the  formation  of  woody  stems  which  offer 
great  resistance  to  varying  conditions  of 
climate  and  weather.  Such  highly-organised 
plants  form  forests,  which  still  dominate 
over  a  large  part  of  the  earth's  surface. 

Man's  nearest  allies,  the  anthropoid  apes 
and  the  monkeys,  are  for  the  most  part  forest 
animals,  and  the  lowest  races  of  men  are  still 
forest  dwellers.  Where  man  is  a  forest 
dweller  he  seems  not  to  reach  his  full  size, 


114  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

as  we  see  in  the  case  of  the  pigmies  of  the 
Congo  forest,  and  the  negritos  of  the  Philip- 
pines, and  he  suffers  from  a  chronic  insuffi- 
ciency of  food,  which  acts  as  a  check  both  to 
his  mental  and  physical  development.  There 
has,  therefore,  always  been  war  between 
evolving  man  and  the  giants  of  the  plant 
world,  a  war  which  has  swept  the  forests 
away  from  many  of  the  more  civilised  parts 
of  the  globe,  and  which  still  continues,  though 
man's  victory  is  now  so  complete  that  he  can 
afford  to  be  generous,  and  give  protection  to 
the  remnants  of  his  former  foe. 

But  over  parts  of  the  globe  the  climate, 
and  especially  the  amount  or  distribution 
of  the  rainfall,  makes  it  difficult  or  impossible 
for  forests  to  grow  naturally.  Here  other 
types  of  plants,  lower  in  stature,  and  evading 
rather  than  facing  the  problems  of  winter 
cold  or  summer  drought,  flourish  and  form 
what  we  call  the  grasslands.  The  grasslands 
favour  man  in  several  respects.  They  feed 
the  animals  upon  which  he  depends  for  food, 
for  clothing,  and  for  the  conveyance  of  his 
person  or  property,  and  they  offer  much  less 
resistance  than  the  forest  to  his  agricultural 
operations.  Even  the  large  herbivorous 
mammals  which  in  their  wild  state  haunt  the 


PLANT  GEOGRAPHY  115 

forests,  usually  leave  these  at  night  to  feed 
upon  the  grasslands,  so  that  it  is  the  grass- 
lands which  have  largely  fed  man  at  every 
stage  of  civilisation.  The  atmospheric  con- 
ditions within  the  woodlands  also,  the  de- 
ficient sunlight,  the  humidity,  and  so  forth, 
seem  unfavourable  to  human  development. 

Where  the  conditions  are  especially  unfa- 
vourable to  plant  life,  we  find  that  even  the 
grassland  plants  are  unable  to  keep  up  the 
struggle,  and  diminish  in  number,  losing 
their  power  of  forming  a  complete  covering 
for  the  soil,  and  thus  the  grassland  passes  into 
desert,  whether  the  hot  waterless  desert  of 
low  latitudes,  or  the  cold  frozen  desert  of 
northern  ones. 

In  the  most  general  sense,  then,  we  may 
say  that  these  three  formations,  woodland, 
grassland  and  desert,  divide  the  surface  of 
the  land  among  them,  and  between  them 
there  is  constant  conflict.  The  grasslands 
are  for  ever  attempting  to  encroach  upon  the 
woodlands,  and  in  this  attempt  they  have 
been  assisted,  sometimes  to  too  great  an  ex- 
tent, by  the  operations  of  man.  Similarly  the 
desert  is  always  striving  to  encroach  upon 
the  grassland,  and  in  this  endeavour  it  has 
been  sometimes  involuntarily  aided  by  man, 


116  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

who  has  also  done  much  voluntarily  to  re- 
claim the  desert  land  for  the  grasses. 

Let  us  note  next  the  particular  conditions 
which  favour  woodland,  grassland  and  desert 
respectively.  The  distribution  of  plants  over 
the  surface  of  the  earth  at  large  is  deter- 
mined by  a  number  of  factors,  by  the  amount 
of  heat,  by  the  amount  and  distribution  of 
precipitation,  by  the  nature  and  strength 
of  the  winds,  by  the  characters  of  the  soil, 
and  so  on.  But  forests  occur  under  the 
equator  and  also  far  to  the  north;  we  have 
cold  deserts  as  well  as  hot  ones;  there  are 
extensive  grasslands  in  the  Sudan  as  well 
as  in  the  Canadian  Far  West.  This  proves 
that  the  varying  amounts  of  heat  may  be 
neglected  in  considering  the  cause  of  the 
distribution  of  the  three  great  plant  for- 
mations. 

Again,  the  soil  is  of  minor  importance, 
for  different  types  of  forest  and  of  grassland 
occur  on  different  types  of  soils.  We  are 
thus  led  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  the  pre- 
cipitation and  the  wind  which  determine  the 
distribution.  To  understand  the  reason  for 
this  we  must  consider  the  needs  of  different 
types  of  plants  in  the  matter  of  water. 

Plants  can  only  take  in  the  mineral  con- 


PLANT  GEOGRAPHY  117 

stituents  of  their  food  in  the  form  of  a  solu- 
tion, and  this  solution  must  be  weak,  or  it 
has  a  poisonous  effect.  For  example,  sul- 
phate of  ammonia  is  a  valuable  manure,  but 
if  a  considerable  amount  be  dissolved  in 
water  and  applied  to  the  roots  of  a  growing 
plant,  death  may  very  likely  take  place. 

It  is  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  fact 
that  plants  can  only  absorb  weak  solutions 
of  their  food  salts,  that  their  roots  take  in 
more  water  than  is  actually  needed  by  the 
plant.  One  of  the  functions  of  the  leaves 
is  therefore  to  get  rid  of  surplus  water,  the 
process  being  called  transpiration.  Trans- 
piration takes  place  faster  in  a  tall  plants 
like  a  tree,  which  grows  up  into  dry  layers 
of  the  air,  than  in  a  low  plant  like  a  grass. 
It  takes  place  faster  in  windy  weather  than 
in  calm.  Other  things  being  equal  it  takes 
place  faster  in  warm  weather  than  in  cold, 
and  the  larger  the  plant  and  the  more  nu- 
merous its  leaves  the  more  water  is  given  off, 
that  is,  the  more  water  is  returned  to  the  air 
from  the  soil. 

The  result  of  all  this  is  that  forest  trees 
require  far  more  water  than  grassland.  It 
has  been  calculated  that  a  beech  wood  aged 
50  to  60  years  gives  off  during  the  growing 


118  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

season  354  tons  of  water  per  acre,  which 
illustrates  the  drying  effect  of  the  presence 
of  the  wood.  Similarly,  the  effect  of  tree- 
planting  in  the  marshy  regions  of  France  and 
Italy,  where  the  soil  as  a  consequence  has 
dried  and  the  marshes  disappeared,  shows 
how  great  a  demand  upon  ground  water  trees 
make,  as  compared  with  grasses  and  low 
growing  herbs. 

On  the  other  hand,  although  trees  take  an 
enormous  amount  of  water  from  the  soil, 
they  can  draw  their  supplies  from  a  large  area. 
It  is  the  extremities  of  the  fine  branches  of 
the  roots  which  take  in  the  water,  and  these 
pass  deep  down  into  the  soil,  and  spread  out 
over  a  vast  area.  In  other  words,  trees  avail 
themselves  of  the  water  in  the  deeper  layers 
of  the  soil,  and  can  tolerate  relatively  long 
periods  of  drought,  if  the  surface  drying  of 
the  soil  does  not  extend  to  the  deeper  layers. 
In  hot  summer  weather  grasslands  brown 
and  wither  long  before  the  trees  show  any 
signs  of  water-famine. 

In  consequence,  we  may  say  that  as  long 
as  the  total  rainfall  of  a  region  is  sufficient 
to  ensure  a  constant  supply  of  moisture 
in  the  subsoil  during  the  growing  season, 
trees  can  thrive,  even  if  little  or  no  rain  falls 


PLANT  GEOGRAPHY  119 

during  this  season.  On  the  other  hand,  dry- 
ing winds  are  very  hurtful  to  trees,  especially 
if  they  occur  at  a  period  when  the  tree  is 
unable,  either  because  of  the  coldness  of  the 
subsoil,  or  because  of  its  dryness,  to  take  in 
fresh  water  to  replace  that  which  is  lost.  The 
hurtfulness  of  late  frosts  is  largely  due  to  the 
cold  suddenly  checking  root  absorption  at  a 
time  when  the  growing  parts,  acted  upon  by 
the  spring  winds,  are  giving  out  water  freely. 

Grasses  transpire  less  freely  than  trees, 
but  their  root  system  is  much  shallower 
and  less  well-developed.  They  depend  upon 
the  water  in  the  upper  layers  of  soil,  and 
must  have  frequent,  even  if  gentle,  showers 
during  their  growing  season,  while  they  are 
quite  indifferent  to  drought  and  even  to  cut- 
ting winds  during  their  resting  period. 

A  little  reflection  will  show  that  it  results 
from  these  facts  that  woodland,  grassland 
and  desert  do  not  form  a  continuous  series. 
It  may  quite  well  be  that  woodland  passes 
through  scrub  into  desert  without  the  inter- 
vention of  grassland.  Right  across  Europe 
there  is  (or  was)  a  broad  belt  of  forest.  South- 
ward towards  the  Mediterranean  this  thins 
out  into  a  characteristic  form  of  scrub,  called 


120  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

maquis,  whose  characters  we  shall  describe 
later,  and  this  scrub  passes  in  all  directions 
into  desert  land.  Here  no  belt  of  grassland 
intervenes,  for  the  rainless  Mediterranean 
summer  makes  the  growth  of  grass  virtually 
impossible,  except  where  special  conditions, 
e.  g.  hills,  introduce  modifications.  Con- 
trasted with  this  we  have  the  conditions  in 
North  America  where,  e.  g.  in  Canada,  the 
western  coast  is  densely  forest-clad,  as  is  also 
the  eastern  region.  In  journeying  eastward 
after  crossing  the  Rocky  Mountains  the  for- 
est dies  away  into  grassland,  and  the  same 
thing  happens,  though  more  slowly,  in  a  west- 
ward journey.  The  reason  is  that  in  this 
case  there  is  a  steady  diminution  of  precipi- 
tation on  passing  to  the  interior,  but  what 
precipitation  remains  is,  as  we  have  seen, 
largely,  though  not  wholly,  summer  rain,  and 
is,  therefore,  sufficient  to  determine  the 
growth  of  grass,  though  not  of  trees. 

Again,  in  North  Africa  the  forests  of  the 
Atlas  Mountains  pass  directly,  without  inter- 
vening grassland,  into  the  Sahara  desert, 
but  to  the  south  of  the  desert  the  grassy  and 
park-like  Sudan  separates  the  desert  from 
the  luxuriant  tropical  forest.     In  the  latter 


PLANT  GEOGRAPHY  121 

case,  however,  it  is  possible  that  man's  in- 
fluence has  counted  for  something. 

On  mountains,  in  whatever  latitude,  the 
conditions  are  much  more  uniform,  partly 
because  it  is  wind,  assisted  by  temperature 
variations,  which  is  the  dominating  factor. 
Moisture  is  usually  abundant,  but  high  up 
what  is  called  physiological  drought  occurs; 
that  is,  the  temperature  is  too  low  for  the 
plants  to  be  able  to  absorb  the  abundant 
water. 

In  ascending  any  mountain,  the  following 
are  the  chief  changes  which  occur.  The 
lower  slopes  will  probably  be  cultivated. 
As  we  ascend  the  precipitation  increases,  and 
forests  appear.  First  we  have  probably  a 
belt  of  deciduous  trees,  passing  above  into 
the  more  resistant  conifers.  This  belt  usually 
ascends  higher  on  the  south  than  on  the 
north  side,  and  higher  on  mountains  which 
occur  in  a  group  than  on  isolated  peaks.  As 
the  wind  is  more  and  more  felt,  and  increases 
the  dangerous  transpiration  of  winter  the 
trees  become  more  and  more  dwarfed  to 
escape  its  force.  There  may  be  a  belt  of 
prostrate  mountain  pines  above,  marking  the 
tree  limit;  in  any  case  the  trees  are  gradually 
replaced  by  dwarfed   shrubs.     Then  comes 


122  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

the  zone  of  Alpine  plants,  the  grasses  making 
a  complete  sward,  but  being  accompanied 
by  many  other  plants.  Gradually,  as  the 
soil  becomes  scantier,  and  the  surface  more 
rocky  and  exposed,  the  continuous  sward 
disappears,  and  the  conditions  of  a  cold  desert 
appear.  A  few  scattered  plants  occur,  ceas- 
ing near  the  snow-line,  the  highest  being 
usually  plants  of  simple  structure  like  mosses 
and  lichens. 

As  we  have  already  indicated,  in  the  case 
of  the  mountains  of  Europe  there  are  often 
glacial  shelves  at  considerable  elevations, 
whose  covering  of  fine  debris  determines 
the  growth  of  peculiarly  fine  grass.  The 
economic  value  of  this  grassland  has  in  many 
cases  in  the  Alps  induced  man  to  destroy 
the  forest  in  order  to  increase  pasture  land. 
The  result  has  often  been  disastrous,  for 
once  the  trees  are  cut  down  the  forest  soil  is 
rapidly  destroyed  by  weathering,  especially  on 
slopes,  the  courses  of  streams  are  altered  by 
the  more  rapid  run-off,  and  widespread  flood- 
ing and  destruction  of  pastures  have  some- 
times resulted.  In  North  America,  similarly, 
man's  attempt  to  increase  pasture  land  or 
arable  land  at  the  expense  of  woodland  has 
often  led  to  disastrous  consequences. 


PLANT  GEOGRAPHY  US 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  special 
features  of  the  Mediterranean  climate,  and 
indicated  that  its  peculiarities  are  reflected 
in  its  vegetation;  we  must  now  consider  this 
vegetation  in  a  little  more  detail.  The  fact 
that  the  region  is  chiefly  visited  by  the 
inhabitants  of  more  northern  climates  in 
spring  gives  rise  to  a  somewhat  erroneous 
impression  in  regard  to  the  plants.  In  spring 
the  Mediterranean  vegetation  is  at  its  best. 
The  mild  winters  permit  the  plants  which 
further  north  die  down  or  cease  to  grow,  to 
go  on  blooming.  The  rains  so  moisten  the 
soil  that  the  first  warm  days  cause  very  rapid 
growth  in  those  plants  which  finish  their 
activities  before  the  hot,  dry  summer  begins. 
They  must  flower  and  seed  in  spring,  and 
die  down  till  the  rains  of  autumn  awaken 
them   again. 

In  our  own  country  we  have  a  few  plants 
which  hurry  through  their  activities  in  this 
way.  The  lesser  celandine,  the  wood  anem- 
one and  a  few  others  strive  to  flower  and  fruit 
before  the  forest  trees  are  thickly  clad  with 
leaves.  The  snowdrop,  even  the  wild  hya- 
cinth, though  it  is  much  later,  similarly 
limit  their  active  life  to  a  short  period  in 
spring.     This  phenomenon,   only   suggested 


124  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

in  our  climate,  is  very  marked  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean area. 

That  region  is  especially  characterised  by 
its  richness  in  bulbous  and  tuberous  plants. 
These,  as  all  who  have  grown  hyacinths  or 
narcissuses  know,  demand  relatively  large 
amounts  of  water  during  their  short  growing 
period.  In  spring,  therefore,  the  shores  of 
the  Mediterranean  are  bright  with  many 
kinds  of  anemones,  with  narcissus,  asphodel, 
bell  hyacinth,  Allium,  tulips,  and  so  on,  all 
awakened  by  the  spring  warmth  and  the 
spring  rains.  Accompanying  them  are  many 
bright-coloured  annuals,  also  in  a  hurry  to 
race  through  their  life-history  before  the 
terrible  drought  of  summer.  Now  also  the 
grass  grows,  and  the  autumn-sown  corn  be- 
comes tall.  As  the  weather  grows  hotter  and 
drier,  the  plants  with  bulbous  and  tuberous 
roots  die  down  to  the  ground,  the  annuals  die 
altogether,  leaving  their  seeds  to  wait  till  the 
autumn  rains  before  they  sprout.  The  grasses 
turn  brown,  and  the  peculiar  parched  ap- 
pearance of  the  Mediterranean  summer 
spreads  over  the  land. 

To  a  northern  visitor  at  this  season  it  is  not 
luxuriance  but  desolation  which  is  the  pre- 
vailing   note.      Except    on    the    hill    slopes 


PLANT  GEOGRAPHY  125 

there  are  no  masses  of  broad-leafed  foliage 
trees — there  is  not  the  deep  bright  green 
characteristic  of  the  summer  woods  further 
north.  The  trees  do  not  reach  a  great  size; 
the  leaves  are  usually  small,  and  the  fact  that 
they  strive  to  avoid  the  sun  by  arranging 
themselves  with  the  edge  upwards  instead  of 
the  flat  surface,  makes  them  appear  smaller 
than  they  are.  They  are  often  needle-shaped, 
sometimes  shining  and  coated  with  resin, 
sometimes  silvery  owing  to  a  coating  of  hairs 
on  the  under  surface.  Many  plants  have 
spines  or  thorns,  and  succulent  plants  like 
agave,  aloe  and  prickly  pear  are  common. 
The  absence  of  a  complete  covering  of 
vegetation  causes  the  surface  soil  to  dry 
completely,  and  so  form  clouds  of  dust  which 
adds  to  the  generally  desolate  appearance. 
Indeed,  the  brown  powdery  appearance  of 
the  soil  is  one  of  the  points  which  especially 
strikes  the  stranger,  accustomed  to  the  darker, 
moister  soil  of  the  north,  always  covered 
with  vegetation,  except  where  man  has 
interfered. 

Here  and  there,  however,  are  indications 
that  even  this  parched  brown  earth  holds 
wealth  for  man.  The  vines,  if  dusty  and  far 
less  luxuriant  than  one  expects,  are  loaded 


126  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

with  ripening  fruit.  The  gorgeous  scarlet 
flowers  of  the  double  pomegranate  gleam  amid 
the  dark  foliage;  the  gnarled  and  twisted 
olives  show  on  close  inspection  masses  of 
small  green  fruits;  the  oleander  bushes  are 
covered  with  pink  flowers;  there  are  great 
round  balls  on  the  orange  and  lemon  trees, 
and  many  other  fruit  trees  are  loaded  with 
produce. 

Let  us  sum  up  first  what  man  gains  from  the 
plants  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  then  look 
at  some  points  in  regard  to  the  wild  plants. 
In  the  first  place,  we  see  that  man  takes  ad- 
vantage of  the  rapid  growth  of  annuals  in  the 
early  part  of  the  year.  The  annuals  most 
useful  to  him,  here  as  elsewhere,  are,  of  course, 
the  cereals,  especially  wheat,  which,  if  sown 
in  autumn,  is  nourished  by  the  winter  rains, 
and  grows  rapidly  with  the  warmth  of  spring 
to  ripen  in  May,  June  or  July,  according  to 
the  locality. 

In  the  second  place,  certain  trees  or  shrubs, 
by  reason  of  their  resistance  to  drought,  and 
their  elaborate  root  system,  which  enables 
them  to  gather  water  from  the  deeper  layers 
of  the  soil,  will  produce  succulent  fruits 
without  needing  artificial  supplies  of  water. 
The  most  important  of  these,  throughout  the 


PLANT  GEOGRAPHY  127 

whole  Mediterranean  area,  are  the  vine  and 
the  olive.  The  olive  supplies  the  oil  which 
is  all  the  more  necessary  in  that  the  absence 
of  grass  makes  pastoral  industries,  and  there- 
fore the  production  of  cheese  and  butter 
difficult  or  impossible  except  in  the  high 
grounds,  while  the  vine  supplies  the  wine 
which  with  bread  and  oil  form  the  essential 
parts  of  the  diet  of  Mediterranean  man. 
The  olive  tree,  which  is  indigenous,  may  be 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  characteristic 
trees  of  the  area,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  the  novice  not  infrequently  confuses 
it  with  another  tree,  almost  as  characteristic 
the  evergreen  or  holm  oak.  The  two  are  not 
nearly  related,  the  olive  belonging  to  the 
same  family  as  the  lilac  and  privet,  while  the 
evergreen  oak  is  a  true  oak.  Both  trees, 
however,  show  similar  adaptations  to  summer 
drought,  and  their  resemblance  to  one  an- 
other is  a  good  example  of  convergence  due 
to  a  similar  environment.  Both  have  small 
evergreen  leaves;  small  that  they  may  not 
lose  too  much  water  in  summer,  evergreen 
that  they  may  assimilate  even  during  the 
winter.  Both  have  their  leaves  silvery  be- 
neath, which  again  prevents  loss  of  water; 
both  have    gnarled    trunks,  branching   low 


128  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

down,  in  order  that  the  leaves  may  avoid  the 
dry  upper  layers  of  the  air.  Adaptations  of 
this  kind  are  present  to  a  greater  or  less  de- 
gree in  all  the  trees  which  are  tolerant  of 
Mediterranean  conditions,  and  many  of  these 
trees  yield  useful  fruits. 

In  addition  to  the  cultivated  plants  men- 
tioned, a  great  number  of  others  are  grown 
within  the  area,  as  we  shall  see  later,  but  the 
point  of  interest  is  that  the  plants  which  have 
been  of  importance  in  the  history  of  the  region 
have  been  either  annuals  which  ripened  early, 
or  fruit-bearing  trees  with  special  adapta- 
tions to  resist  drought. 

Apart  from  the  annuals  and  the  bulbous 
and  tuberous  plants  already  described,  the 
wild  plants  are  chiefly  shrubs  or  stunted  trees 
with  similar  drought-resisting  characters. 
During  the  long  ages  he  has  inhabited  the 
Mediterranean,  man  has  doubtless  contrib- 
uted largely  to  the  destruction  of  the  forests 
which  are  now,  as  we  have  seen,  represented 
by  the  stunted  scrub  or  maquis.  But  on 
climatic  grounds  we  cannot  suppose  that  the 
Mediterranean  forests  had  ever  the  luxuri- 
ance of  those  further  north,  or  of  the  tropical 
forests  of  the  south. 

Where    there    is    sufficient   rain   chestnut 


PLANT  GEOGRAPHY  129 

woods  occur,  but  this  is  only  on  the  hill  slopes. 
Above  the  chestnut,  beech  may  occur,  as  in 
Sicily.  The  maritime  pine  and  the  Corsican 
pine  form  open  woods  in  the  damper  places, 
and  the  picturesque  stone  pine,  with  its 
rounded  head,  is  very  characteristic.  We 
have  already  mentioned  the  evergreen  or 
holm  oak  as  common,  and  the  cork  oak  occurs 
abundantly  in  some  places.  These  trees,  with 
the  cypress,  must  have  formed  the  primitive 
forests,  and  they  still  constitute  the  most 
important  forest  trees  of  the  area.  The  occur- 
rence of  a  native  palm  (Chamcerops)  is  inter- 
esting as  suggesting  the  warmth  of  the  cli- 
mate, and  even  on  the  European  shores  the 
date  palm  is  extensively  planted,  though  its 
true  home  is  the  margin  of  the  African  and 
Arabian  deserts. 

Of  the  characteristic  shrubs  the  most 
striking  are  perhaps  the  many  species  of  Cis- 
tus,  with  large  almost  rose-like  flowers,  and 
leaves  which  attempt  to  adapt  themselves  to 
the  climate  by  many  different  devices.  Some- 
times they  are  stiff  and  leathery,  sometimes 
resinous,  sometimes  hairy.  Many  plants  in 
the  area  have  a  coating  of  resin  on  their  leaves. 
This,  no  doubt,  preserves  them  against  loss 
of  water,  but  also  probably  protects  against 


130  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

grazing  animals.  Goats  thrive  in  the 
Mediterranean  partly  because  of  the  catholi- 
city of  their  taste  in  vegetation,  and  in  conse- 
quence the  plants  have  had  to  protect  them- 
selves against  their  appetite  as  well  as 
against  drought.  Only  those  with  some  dis- 
agreeable quality,  hairs,  spines,  resin,  strong 
flavour,  etc.,  could  hope  to  protect  themselves 
in  the  dry  season,  when  grass  is  virtually 
absent.  It  is  in  consequence  common  to 
find  aromatic  or  strongly-flavoured  plants 
with  glandular  leaves;  lavender,  rosemary, 
myrtle,  etc.,  are  examples. 

Other  shrubby  plants  associated  with  the 
Mediterranean  are  oleander,  the  noble  laurel, 
the  tree  heath,  arbutus,  many  kinds  of  broom, 
and  generally  evergreen  shrubs  specially 
adapted  to  resist  drought. 

Let  us  turn  from  this  picture  to  the  appear- 
ance presented  by  Central  and  Northern 
Europe.  As  we  have  seen,  the  forest  which 
once  covered  most  of  the  area,  except  the 
steppe  region  of  southern  Russia,  has  largely 
disappeared,  but  enough  remains  to  enable 
us  to  reconstruct  the  picture  of  the  original 
forest. 

As  contrasted  with  the  (chiefly)  evergreen 
woodland  of  the  Mediterranean,  the  forests 


PLANT  GEOGRAPHY  131 

of  the  low  grounds  are  here  deciduous.  In 
summer  clothed  in  magnificent  foliage,  well 
adapted  to  give  off  enormous  quantities  of 
water,  in  winter  the  trees  stand  tall  and  bare, 
exposing  nothing  but  their  branches  to  the 
winter  blasts.  While  the  buds  of  Mediter- 
ranean plants  have  no  special  means  of  pro- 
tection, the  typical  forest  trees  of  Central 
Europe  have  their  buds  carefully  sheathed 
in  scales,  clothed  in  hairs,  or  coated  with 
resin,  to  keep  out  alike  the  cold  and  the  damp 
of  the  northern  winter.  While  the  leaves  of 
Mediterranean  plants  are  usually  small,  often 
coated  with  hairs  beneath,  often  resinous, 
and  so  on,  the  forest  trees  further  north  have 
large  leaves  of  delicate  texture,  with  no 
special  protection  against  drought. 

Again,  while  the  luxuriant  forest  of  the 
tropics  includes  many  different  species  of 
trees,  the  deciduous  forests  of  cool  temperate 
regions  contain  few  species,  and  are  often 
pure  woods,  that  is,  consist  of  one  dominant 
species,  forming  beech  woods  or  oak  woods, 
and  so  on.  The  dense  shade  of  the  beech 
makes  undergrowth  difficult  or  impossible, 
but  the  other  woods  have  a  complicated 
undergrowth  of  many  different  kinds  of 
plants,  especially  pronounced  in  spring  before 


132  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

the  leaves  appear  on  the  trees.  But  this  un- 
dergrowth never  reaches  the  luxuriance  that 
it  does  in  the  tropical  forest,  and  creepers  and 
climbing  plants  are  few. 

As  we  ascend  from  the  low  ground  to  the 
higher,  or  as  we  travel  northwards  to  high 
latitudes,  the  broad-leafed  deciduous  forests 
are  replaced  by  coniferous  ones.  European 
conifers,  with  the  exception  of  the  larch, 
are  evergreen,  and  all  are  more  tolerant  of 
cold  and  wind  than  deciduous  trees.  Pines, 
spruce,  fir,  larch,  and  silver  fir  are  the  most 
important  kinds.  Both  at  high  altitudes 
and  in  high  latitudes  these  conifers  are  often 
accompanied  by  birch,  which  is  not  a  cone- 
bearing  tree,  but  is  very  tolerant  of  cold  and 
wind. 

To  the  north  there  comes  sooner  or  later 
a  limit  beyond  which  the  cold  and  winds 
make  further  tree  growth  impossible.  Here 
we  come  to  a  tundra  region,  where  the  place  of 
trees  is  taken  by  low-growing  shrubs,  with 
small  leaves  and  other  adaptations  to  ensure 
against  excessive  loss  of  water.  It  is,  as  it 
were,  the  reappearance  of  the  Mediterranean 
type,  but  here  the  cause  is,  not  the  absence  of 
water,  but  the  fact  that  the  cold  makes  it 
impossible  for  the  roots  to  absorb  it.    A  con- 


PLANT  GEOGRAPHY  133 

dition  of  physiological  drought  results,  and 
only  plants  well  adapted  to  prevent  undue 
loss  of  water  can  resist  such  conditions  of 
life. 

A  somewhat  similar  type  of  vegetation 
occurs  over  vast  areas  in  the  more  northern 
parts  of  Europe,  forming  the  moors  and 
heaths  of  much  of  Scotland,  of  parts  of  Eng- 
land and  Ireland,  of  parts  of  Germany,  and  so 
on.  Here  the  presence  of  peat  produces  con- 
ditions very  unfavourable  to  plant  life,  except 
to  certain  shrubby  plants  such  as  heather  and 
other  plants  of  the  heather  family,  juniper, 
bog  myrtle,  and  so  on,  and  some  grasses 
and  sedges,  etc.,  all  of  which  have  special 
adaptations  to  life  in  a  peaty  soil.  Over  the 
large  areas,  therefore,  covered  by  these  heaths, 
trees  are  absent,  or  few,  and  this  stunted 
shrubby  vegetation  takes  their  place. 

Large  areas  of  natural  grassland,  except 
for  the  tracts  of  pasture  land  already  de- 
scribed in  the  mountain  regions,  are  infre- 
quent in  Europe.  They  occur  in  Southern 
Russia  and  in  the  Hungarian  plain,  and  form 
part  of  that  great  series  of  steppes  and  plains 
which  stretches  into  Asia,  and  passes  into  a 
region  of  deserts. 

The  conditions  favourable  to  the  growth  of 


134  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

grass  here,  instead  of  trees,  seem  to  be  purely 
climatic.  Very  important  is  the  prevalence 
of  strong  cold  winds  during  winter,  which  is  a 
period  of  drought.  The  scanty  rains  come 
in  early  summer,  which  suits  grasses  admi- 
rably, while  the  total  precipitation  is  too  slight 
for  trees.  The  summers  are  hot,  and  the 
rains  cease  early  and  give  place  to  a  period 
of  drought,  very  injurious  to  trees,  while  it 
injures  the  grasses  little,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  they  have  had  time  to  make  their 
growth. 

The  abundant  natural  growth  of  grass 
makes  these  steppe  regions  well  suited  to  the 
pastoral  industries,  which  tend,  as  civilisa- 
tion progresses,  to  give  place  to  agriculture. 

To  sum  up,  we  have  seen  that  looking  at 
Europe  as  a  whole  three  great  plant  forma- 
tions are  represented.  We  have,  first,  the 
cool  temperate  forest,  which  once  extended 
over  the  greater  part  of  the  continent,  wher- 
ever the  conditions  were  suitable.  This  has 
now  largely  given  place  to  arable  land.  Next, 
we  find  round  the  Mediterranean  sea,  and  in 
those  great  peninsulas  and  islands  which  are 
bathed  by  it,  a  zone  of  modified  woodland 
passing  into  scrub,  remarkable  for  the  rapid 
growth  of  annuals  in  the  early  part  of  the  year, 


PLANT  GEOGRAPHY  135 

and  for  the  abundance  of  trees  bearing  useful 
fruits.  Finally,  linking  Europe  to  temperate 
Asia,  we  have  belts  of  steppe  land,  charac- 
terised by  a  luxuriant  growth  of  grass  in  the 
early  summer,  and  fitted  by  nature  for 
pastoral  industries,  which  do  not  thrive  near 
the  Mediterranean.  Another  way  of  putting 
the  same  facts  would  be  to  say  that  Europe 
proper  is  a  region  of  temperate  forest,  linked 
to  Africa  by  scrub  land  passing  into  desert, 
and  to  Asia  by  steppe  land  passing  into 
desert. 

The  flora  of  North  America,  owing  to  the 
size  of  the  continent,  offers  more  resemblance 
to  that  of  Asia  than  to  Europe. 

Bearing  in  mind  what  has  been  already 
said  about  the  structure  of  North  America — 
with  its  western  mountain  range  and  eastern 
uplands  enclosing  between  them  a  region 
of  moderate  relief — and  also  what  has  been 
said  in  regard  to  its  climates  and  to  the  in- 
fluence of  climate  upon  vegetation,  it  is 
relatively  easy  to  deduce  the  main  points 
in  regard  to  the  flora. 

To  the  far  north  there  is  a  treeless  tundra 
region,  quite  comparable  to  that  which 
occurs  over  vast  areas  in  North  Asia,  and  on 


136  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

a  reduced  scale  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
continent  of  Europe.  Next  we  have  a  wide 
band  of  predominantly  coniferous  forest, 
which,  although  its  species  are  different,  yet 
in  broad  outline  is  entirely  homologous  with 
the  coniferous  forest  found  in  northern  Asia, 
south  of  the  tundra  region.  In  Canada  this 
forest  consists  of  spruces  and  larches,  the 
species  being  peculiar  to  the  continent. 
Mingled  with  the  conifers  are  smaller  num- 
bers of  the  hardier  deciduous  trees,  such  as 
birches,  poplars,  and  willows. 

What  we  have  already  said  as  to  the 
climatic  differences  between  the  eastern  and 
western  sides  of  continents  will  at  once  sug- 
gest that  this  band  of  forest  is  not  likely  to 
run  directly  across  the  continent  from  east 
to  west.  In  point  of  fact  it  stretches  from 
Labrador  in  a  north-westerly  direction  to 
Alaska,  leaving  almost  the  whole  of  the 
western  sea-board  to  be  occupied  by  another 
type.  This  type  is  the  extraordinarily  luxu- 
riant and  beautiful  western  forest,  consisting 
for  the  most  part  of  conifers.  It  is  largely 
these  conifers  which  have  enriched  European 
parks  and  gardens  within  recent  years,  and 
although  it  is  perhaps  the  great  Sequoia 
(Wellingtonia)  gigantea  which  has  most  im- 


PLANT  GEOGRAPHY  137 

pressed  popular  imagination,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  size  and  luxuriance  are 
characteristic  of  many  species.  This  western 
forest  stretches  down  the  western  seaboard  to 
the  State  of  California,  and,  indeed,  persists 
until  increasing  aridity  makes  forest  growth 
impossible.  Its  great  luxuriance,  compared 
with  the  scantier  forests  of  the  Mediterranean 
region  in  Europe,  is  partly  to  be  ascribed 
to  a  greater  rainfall,  and  doubtless  partly 
to  man's  interference,  for  the  original  forests 
of  the  Mediterranean  must  have  been  largely 
destroyed,  as  the  western  American  forests 
are  in  process  of  being.  One  must  remember 
also  that  the  proximity  of  mountain  ranges 
to  the  seaboard  in  western  North  America 
gives  a  heavy  rainfall,  and  suitable  places 
for  forest  growth.  The  fact  that  the  trees  are 
predominantly  coniferous  gives  them  great 
resistance  to  the  summer  drought.  In  front 
of  the  mountain  ranges  the  coastal  plain  is 
occupied  by  an  evergreen  scrub  vegetation 
comparable  to  that  of  the  lowlands  of  the 
Mediterranean  basin. 

In  British  Columbia,  where  the  Cascade 
Range  lies  at  no  great  distance  from  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  the  western  coniferous 
forest  practically  clothes  the  whole  area  from 


138  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

the  coast  to  the  main  range,  but  further  south, 
where  the  Cascade  Range  and  its  continua- 
tion the  Sierra  Nevada  are  widely  separated 
from  the  main  range,  a  dry  and  semi-desert 
region  occurs,  between  the  two,  which  bears 
a  desert  type  of  vegetation,  including  espe- 
cially a  plant  related  to  our  wormwood,  called 
sagebrush,  with  cactuses  in  the  warmer  parts. 
Another  area  which  is  too  arid  to  carry  trees, 
except  where  local  conditions  raise  the  rain- 
fall, extends  from  Texas  northwards  to  about 
the  latitude  of  Edmonton  or  Battleford, 
and  lies  in  the  "rain  shadow"  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  This  is  the  region  of  the  Great 
Plains,  mostly  too  arid  to  carry  anything 
but  herds  of  cattle,  and  mostly  forming 
natural  pasture,  being  thus  analogous  to  the 
steppes  of  Asia. 

Eastward  the  rainfall  increases,  and  we  pass 
from  the  area  of  unreclaimed  pasture  to  the 
prairies,  now  largely  laid  down  to  wheat  and 
other  food  plants.  Southward  the  Great 
Plains  pass  into  the  deserts  of  Mexico,  but 
northwards  they  are  separated  from  the 
northern  coniferous  forest  by  a  belt  of  aspen, 
and  it  is  in  this  region  that  the  Canadians 
are  steadily  pushing  the  cultivation  of  wheat 


PLANT   GEOGRAPHY  139 

into  the  plains,  wherever  the  local  rainfall 
makes  this  possible. 

So  far  we  have  left  south-eastern  Canada 
and  the  whole  of  the  eastern  and  south-eastern 
States  out  of  consideration.  Speaking  very 
broadly,  we  may  say  that  all  this  area  is 
clothed  by  a  forest  of  mixed  coniferous  and 
broad-leaved  trees  which  is  comparable  to 
the  forest  which  covers  the  greater  part 
of  temperate  Europe.  But  it  is  not  to  be 
expected  that  a  forest  which  extends  from 
the  northern  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
rence to  the  extremity  of  the  peninsula  of 
Florida,  that  is,  through  about  25  degrees  of 
latitude,  should  be  uniform  throughout.  In 
point  of  fact,  botanists  distinguish  three 
separate  zones.  In  south-eastern  Canada 
and  the  New  England  states  the  Weymouth 
pine  {Pinus  strobus)  predominates,  being 
accompanied  by  limes,  ashes,  maples,  oaks, 
elms,  chestnuts,  and  so  forth.  Further 
south,  and  especially  further  west,  extending 
to  the  Mississippi  plains,  there  is  a  deciduous 
forest  extraordinarily  rich  in  species.  Prac- 
tically all  our  common  genera  of  forest  trees 
are  represented,  sometimes  by  very  fine 
species,  but  in  addition  there  are  many 
genera    with    no    European    represenla lives. 


140  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

Very  striking  is  the  abundance  of  magnolias 
(whence  the  name  of  magnolia  forest  some- 
times given  to  this  type),  and  species  of  the 
laurel  family,  as  well  as  of  liquidambar. 
The  magnolias  and  liquidambar  are  especially 
interesting,  because  they  once  occurred  in 
Europe,  their  disappearance  there  being 
probably  caused  by  the  glacial  period  as 
explained  on  p.  78. 

We  have  emphasised  above  (p.  137)  the 
luxuriance  of  the  forests  of  the  west  coast  of 
the  States,  but  it  should  be  noticed  that 
luxuriant  as  its  conifers  are,  there  is  a  remark- 
able poverty  in  broad-leaved  forms,  as  com- 
pared with  these  eastern  forests,  and  this 
even  in  the  warmer  parts  of  the  west  coast. 
The  reason  is  probably  the  same  as  in  the 
Mediterranean  region  in  Europe.  The  exist- 
ence of  a  belt  of  desert  to  the  south  of  the 
present  "Mediterranean"  region  of  western 
America  made  it  difficult  for  the  trees  to 
migrate  southwards  at  the  onset  of  cold  con- 
ditions in  the  glacial  period,  and  thus  many 
forms,  which  are  known  to  have  existed  in 
California  in  Tertiary  times,  have  now  com- 
pletely disappeared  from  the  region,  while 
they  persist  in  the  eastern  forests  to  this 
day. 


PLANT  GEOGRAPHY  141 

The  third  type  of  forest  which  occurs  in  the 
eastern  half  of  North  America  is  the  "rain 
forest"  of  Florida  and  parts  of  the  adjacent 
states.  Here  the  rainfall  is  abundant  all  the 
year  round,  with  a  summer  maximum,  and 
the  temperature  is  high.  There  is  thus  no 
need  to  economise  water,  and  where  the  soil 
permits  there  is  a  luxuriant  type  of  forest, 
which  recalls  that  of  the  tropics,  although  it 
is  poorer.  Where  soil  conditions  are  un- 
favourable we  have  pine  woods,  conifers 
throughout  the  eastern  United  States  always 
taking  advantage  of  conditions  relatively 
unfavourable  to  the  broad-leafed  trees. 

Thus  if  we  follow  the  eastern  seaboard 
of  the  United  States  from  Labrador  to  Florida 
we  pass  through  the  following  floral  regions : — 
(1)  Coniferous  forest,  with  relatively  few 
species,  (2)  mixed  coniferous  and  deciduous 
forest  with  chiefly  the  harder  types  of 
deciduous  trees,  (3)  predominantly  deciduous 
forest  with  many  of  the  larger-leafed  and 
more  delicate  forms,  and  finally  (4)  forest  of 
the  sub-tropical  rainy  type,  intermixed  with 
coniferous  woods  on  the  barren  sandy  soil 
and  in  the  swamps. 

The  western  coast  shows  more  uniformity, 
the  western  type  of  coniferous  forest  stretch- 


142  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

ing  from  Alaska  to  California,  though  it  is 
richer,  and  more  luxuriant  in  the  warmer 
regions  when  moisture  is  still  obtainable. 
As  the  moisture  diminishes  the  forest  dies 
away  and  desert  or  semi-desert  conditions 
supervene. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE     DISTRIBUTION     OF     ANIMAL     LIFE 

In  the  last  chapter  we  looked  at  a  few  of 
the  interesting  generalisations  which  have 
emerged  of  late  years  from  the  study  of  plant 
distribution.  An  enormous  amount  of  de- 
tailed investigation  had  been  done  before 
these  generalisations  were  arrived  at,  and 
though  still  much  remains  to  be  done,  yet 
the  broad  lines  of  a  science  of  plant  distribu- 
tion may  now  be  said  to  be  established.  The 
scientific  study  of  animal  distribution  has  not 
yet  reached  a  corresponding  stage  of  advance- 
ment, partly  no  doubt  because  the  dependence 
of  the  more  highly  organised  and  active 
animal  upon  the  physical  conditions  is  less 
close  than  that  of  the  stationary  plant,  so 
that  the  subject  is  more  difficult.  Facts  are 
accumulating  on  all  sides,  but  the  subject  ii 
still  rather  at  the  level  of  collecting  informa- 
143 


144  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

tion  than  at  that  of  laying  down  broad 
generalisations.  There  are,  however,  indica- 
tions of  progress  in  many  directions,  and  an 
attempt  will  be  made  here  to  suggest  some  of 
the  lines  along  which  research  is  especially 
busy  at  the  present  time. 

In  speaking  of  plants  we  confined  our 
attention  exclusively  to  land  plants,  for  the 
reason  that  aquatic  plants  are  usually  small  in 
size,  relatively  simple  in  structure,  of  some- 
what limited  vertical  distribution,  owing  to 
their  dependence  upon  light,  and  of  little 
direct  importance  to  man.  In  considering 
animals,  on  the  other  hand,  we  cannot  exclude 
the  aquatic  forms,  which  are  often  of  great 
human  importance.  In  many  regions  man 
depends  largely,  sometimes  even  exclusively, 
on  the  animals  of  the  sea  for  his  food.  We 
shall,  then,  begin  with  some  account  of 
aquatic  animals,  considering  the  subject,  as 
before,  especially  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Europe  and  North  America. 

Beginning  with  the  sea  we  find  that  the 
scientific  study  of  marine  animals  received  an 
enormous  impetus  from  the  work  of  the 
Challenger  expedition.  The  results  of  that 
expedition  appeared  in  many  large  volumes, 
which  form  a   conspicuous  feature   in  any 


ANIMAL  LIFE  145 

complete  scientific  library  and  contain  a  mass 
of  useful  material.  The  Challenger  expedition 
was  followed  by  many  others,  European  and 
American,  and  the  result  is  that  we  now  know 
a  great  deal  about  marine  animals  and  their 
distribution.  Further,  the  Fishery  Boards 
of  various  Governments  carry  on  continuous 
observations  on  the  conditions  of  life  in 
the  seas  near  their  coasts,  which  have 
added  and  are  adding  enormously  to  our 
knowledge. 

We  cannot  here  consider  in  detail  the 
various  facts  brought  to  light  by  these 
means.  Only  a  few  general  points  can  be 
touched  upon.  One  interesting  generalisa- 
tion is  that  the  life  of  the  ocean  can  be  divided 
into  three  groups:  the  life  of  the  littoral  or 
shore  zone,  the  life  of  the  open  ocean  (pelagic 
fauna),  and  the  life  of  the  great  ocean  depths 
(abyssal  fauna).  The  last,  though  of  great 
zoological  interest,  is  so  remote  from  human 
life  that  we  need  not  consider  it.  The  pelagic 
forms  include  both  the  small  delicate  organ- 
isms which  float  passively  with  the  ocean 
currents,  and  also  powerful  swimmers  like 
many  fish,  and  aquatic  mammals  such  as 
whales  and  seals.  The  littoral  forms  live  in 
the  region  which  is  within  the  reach  of  land 


146  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

influences,  that  is,  from  low-tide  mark  to  the 
edge  of  the  Continental  Shelf  (cf.  p.  27). 
Among  forms  directly  important  to  man  they 
include  many  fish;  crustaceans  such  as  crabs 
and  lobsters;  shell-fish  such  as  oysters,  mus- 
sels, clams,  etc.;  less  important  forms  such 
as  sea-urchins,  which  are  extensively  eaten  in 
the  Mediterranean;  sponges,  an  important 
article  of  commerce;  the  various  corals,  es- 
pecially the  precious  coral,  and  so  on. 

Of  the  useful  marine  animals,  those  which 
are  most  readily  captured  are  the  littoral 
forms,  many  of  which,  on  shores  where  the 
tides  are  well  marked,  are  exposed,  or  at 
least  brought  within  easy  reach,  by  the  daily 
ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide,  and  can  be  obtained 
with  the  minimum  of  apparatus.  The  exten- 
sive shell-mounds  found  on  many  shores,  e.  g. 
on  those  of  Denmark,  show  at  how  early  a 
date  man  availed  himself  of  the  abundant 
food  supply  to  be  obtained  on  the  shore  rocks. 
All  edible  animals  found  in  the  sea  are  "fish" 
to  maritime  populations,  but  fish  in  the 
restricted  sense  are  usually  more  active,  and 
require  more  skill  for  their  capture  than  the 
less  intelligent  molluscs  or  crustaceans,  and 
were  probably  not  used  at  so  early  a  date. 
They  are  by  no  means  equally  distributed  in 


ANIMAL  LIFE  147 

all  seas,  and  their  distribution  shows  many 
points  of  interest. 

We  must  notice,  in  the  first  instance,  that 
the  waste  of  the  land  is  of  great  importance 
in  feeding  marine  forms,  whether  directly  or 
indirectly.  Marine  animals,  therefore,  occur 
most  abundantly  over  the  Continental  Shelf, 
where  they  are  within  reach  of  the  food 
brought  down  by  the  rivers  from  the  land. 
Again,  many  fish,  or  the  organisms  upon 
which  fish  feed,  depend  largely  upon  those 
minute  plants  called  diatoms  which  float  in 
the  upper  layers  of  the  waters  of  the  ocean. 
These  are  especially  abundant  in  the  colder 
seas,  which  doubtless  helps  to  explain  the 
abundance  of  fish  in  high  latitudes.  These 
diatoms,  like  many  other  small  organisms  in 
the  sea,  are  swept  about  by  the  ocean  cur- 
rents, whose  course  greatly  influences  the 
movements  of  fish. 

We  saw  in  the  case  of  forests  that  hot 
climates  conduce  to  a  great  variety  of  species, 
while  in  colder  climates  the  species  are  few, 
but  the  number  of  individuals  very  great. 
Something  of  the  same  sort  seems  to  occur 
with  fishes.  In  warm  seas  the  number  of 
species  is  very  great,  while  in  colder  seas 
there  are  fewer  species,  but  those  which  do 


148  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

occur  are  sometimes  found  in  vast  numbers. 
Fortunately  for  man  these  prolific  northern 
species  are  often  edible,  whereas  in  warm 
seas  poisonous  or  inedible  forms  are  common. 
The  valuable  cod  family  is  found  chiefly  in 
high  latitudes. 

The  consequence  of  the  facts  just  described 
is  that  valuable  fisheries  tend  to  occur  in  cool 
or  cold  climates  rather  than  hot  ones,  and 
because  of  the  dependence  of  so  many  forms 
on  the  Continental  Shelf,  they  occur  in  the 
northern  or  land  hemisphere  rather  than  in 
the  southern  or  oceanic  one. 

The  most  valuable  fisheries  in  the  world 
seem  to  be  those  off  Newfoundland,  where 
the  broad  Continental  Shelf,  forming  the  so- 
called  "banks,"  feeds  myriads  of  cod.  The 
mingling  of  the  waters  brought  by  the  cold 
Labrador  currents  with  those  brought  by  the 
warm  Gulf  Stream  perhaps  influences  this 
marvellous  abundance  of  fish,  as  does  also  the 
waste  brought  by  the  icebergs. 

Next  to  the  banks  of  Newfoundland  the 
most  valuable  fishing  ground  is  the  shallow 
North  Sea,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  lies  on  the 
surface  of  the  Continental  Shelf.  Fish  are 
much  more  abundant  here  than  on  the  nar- 
rower shelf  on  the  western  coast  of  Britain, 


ANIMAL  LIFE  149 

and  the  wealth  of  the  North  Sea  has  been  an 
important  factor  in  the  development  of  the 
countries  bordering  it. 

The  warm,  salt,  relatively  deep,  and  tide- 
less  Mediterranean  is  not  nearly  so  rich  in 
food  fishes  as  the  more  northerly  seas,  a  fact 
reflected  in  the  large  importation  of  dried 
fish  alike  from  Newfoundland  and  from  the 
region  of  the  North  Sea.  But  this  is  an 
economic  and  not  a  zoological  statement,  for 
the  Mediterranean  is  in  reality  richer  in  fish 
species  than  the  North  Sea,  in  this  respect,  as 
in  some  others,  approaching  tropical  regions. 
Among  the  economically  important  fish  are 
the  tunny,  a  very  large  form  allied  to  the 
mackerel,  which  is  dried,  and  sardines  and 
anchovies,  which  are  preserved  in  oil.  Other- 
wise the  fish  are  eaten  fresh,  and  do  not  enter 
into  general  trade. 

Fresh-water  fish  are  abundant  all  over 
Europe,  but  with  some  exceptions  they  are 
not  greatly  prized  in  those  countries  where 
the  better-flavoured  marine  fish  can  be  ob- 
tained. Elsewhere,  as  in  Russia,  Germany, 
and  parts  of  France,  they  become  important. 

Much  more  valuable  than  fresh-water  fish 
in  the  strict  sense  are  the  various  kinds  of 
salmon,  which  come  up  the  rivers  to  breed, 


150  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

but  spend  much  time  also  in  salt  water.  In 
the  rivers  of  Scotland  and  Scandinavia  salmon 
are  still  very  important,  but  the  fisheries  in 
both  cases  are  insignificant  when  compared 
with  those  of  western  North  America.  Sal- 
mon are  inhabitants  of  temperate  waters,  and 
in  North  America  do  not  extend  further  south 
than  the  rivers  flowing  into  the  north  of  the 
Gulf  of  California.  Off  the  coast  of  Alaska 
and  British  Columbia,  especially  the  former, 
they  are  enormously  abundant,  and  being 
caught  in  quantities  which  far  exceed  the 
local  demand  are  largely  canned  for  export. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  regard  to 
fresh-water  fish,  as  with  marine  forms,  the 
northern  part  of  the  world  is  especially  rich 
in  edible  species,  as  compared  alike  with  the 
southern  hemisphere  and  with  the  tropics. 
The  salmon  family  is  confined  to  the  northern 
hemisphere,  and  the  carp  family,  though  not 
peculiar,  is  largely  represented  in  the  north. 
To  it  belong  the  whitefish,  which  form  im- 
portant food  fish  in  many  parts  of  America. 
Sturgeon,  which  are  important  in  Russia, 
occur  in  the  great  rivers  of  eastern  Europe, 
and  in  parts  of  Asia,  and  also  on  the  eastern 
coast  of  North  America,  and  off  California. 

Turning  next  to  the  distribution  of  land 


ANIMAL  LIFE  151 

animals  within  the  European  area,  the  first 
point  is  to  note  that  for  the  globe  at  large 
zoologists  employ  zoogeographical  divisions 
based  chiefly  upon  the  distribution  of  the 
land  mammals.  The  reasons  for  this  are 
manifold. 

In  the  first  place,  mammals  are  of  relatively 
recent  origin,  and  in  taking  account  of  their 
spread  over  the  globe,  we  may  assume  that 
in  broad  outline  the  continents,  or  at  least  the 
deep  oceans,  were  much  the  same  when  the 
existing  mammals  were  evolved  as  at  present. 
This  naturally  simplifies  the  problem,  for  if 
we  divided  the  globe  into  regions  on  the  basis 
of  the  distribution  of  reptiles,  for  example, 
we  should  find  it  necessary  to  take  account  of 
many  differences  between  the  world  in  which 
the  first  reptiles  arose  and  the  world  as  it  is  at 
present. 

Again,  the  chances  of  land  mammals  pass- 
ing from  one  region  to  another,  except  by  the 
crossing  of  land  surfaces,  are  small.  Thus  the 
occurrence  of  similar  land  mammals  in  two 
regions  now  widely  separated  is  almost  certain 
proof  of  a  former  land  connection  between  the 
two  regions.  The  difficulty  which  most  land 
mammals  find  in  crossing  mountain  chains,  or 
deserts,    or   considerable   extents    of    water, 


152  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

makes  it  easy  to  define  zoogeographical  regions 
separated  from  one  another  by  the  existence 
of  such  "barriers  to  distribution"  as  they  are 
called.  Finally,  mammals  are  highly  organ- 
ised animals  of  relatively  large  size,  and  their 
distribution  is  more  easily  studied  than  that 
of  insects,  for  instance. 

Without  going  into  the  zoogeographical 
regions  in  detail,  we  may  note  that  there  is, 
as  already  stated,  considerable  resemblance 
between  the  mammals  of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa 
and  North  America,  that  is,  of  the  land 
hemisphere,  while  South  America,  which  was 
for  long  isolated  from  North  America,  has  a 
peculiar  and  relatively  primitive  fauna,  and 
Australia,  whose  isolation  has  lasted  longer, 
has  an  even  more  peculiar  and  a  much  more 
primitive  fauna. 

When  we  look  at  the  fauna  of  the  great  land 
mass  formed  by  the  continents  of  Europe, 
Asia,  Africa  and  North  America,  sometimes 
called  by  zoogeographers  the  Arctogceic  realm, 
we  find  that  North  America  differs  from  the 
eastern  land  mass  as  regards  its  land  mam- 
mals in  several  respects.  Though  long  sepa- 
rated from  South  America  it  has  been  con- 
nected long  enough  for  some  of  the  southern 
forms  to  find  their  way  northwards,  so  that  we 


ANIMAL  LIFE  153 

find  skunks,  raccoons,  and  other  mammals 
strikingly  different  from  analogous  forms 
found  in  the  Old  World.  Again,  it  is  rela- 
tively so  long  since  there  was  any  free  com- 
munication between  the  eastern  and  western 
hemispheres  that  the  two  faunas  have  had 
time  to  diverge  without  destroying  the  funda- 
mental resemblance. 

Beginning  with  the  fauna  of  the  Old  World, 
we  find  that  no  effective  barrier  of  any  sort 
separates  the  animals  of  Europe,  even  of 
western  Europe,  from  the  animals  of  temper- 
ate Asia,  even  of  eastern  Asia.  Right  across 
from  the  British  Isles  to  Japan,  through  about 
a  hundred  and  fifty  degrees  of  longitude,  there 
is  great  general  similarity  in  the  land  animals. 
To  the  south,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Atlas 
mountains  and  the  African  desert  cut  off  the 
greater  part  of  the  continent  of  Africa,  and 
eastwards  the  transverse  mountain  chains,  no 
less  than  the  difference  of  climate  and  the 
cold,  barren  nature  of  the  uplands  of  central 
Asia,  cut  off  the  rich  fauna  of  the  peninsula 
of  India  with  Further  India,  etc.,  from  the 
habitable  regions  of  temperate  Asia,  with 
their  scantier  fauna. 

We  are  thus  left  with  the  conception  of  a 
very  large  and  tolerably  uniform  zoological 


154  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

region,  stretching  right  across  Europe  and 
temperate  and  northern  Asia.  This  is  the 
Palsearctic  region  of  zoogeographers. 

The  European  section  of  it  is  somewhat 
impoverished  as  compared  with  the  Asiatic 
section,  partly  perhaps  because  of  the  effects 
of  the  ice,  and  certainly  also  because  for  long 
ages  Europe  has  been  densely  populated,  and 
the  larger  wild  animals  have  thus  been  exter- 
minated. Asia,  with  its  northern  forests  and 
its  more  southerly  steppes,  has  always  been 
a  great  reservoir  of  life,  which  has  periodically 
overflowed  into  Europe.  Some  of  these  over- 
flowing animals,  like  the  black  and  the  brown 
rats,  succeeded  in  establishing  themselves 
very  firmly;  others,  like  the  saiga  antelope, 
died  out  rapidly  except  in  the  extreme  east  of 
the  European  area. 

It  is  possible  that  further  investigation  will 
show  that  not  the  mammals  only,  but  land 
animals  in  general  can  be  grouped  according 
to  their  habitat  like  plants,  but  so  far  the 
attempts  made  in  this  direction  have  been 
tentative  only.  Generally,  we  may  say  that 
the  mammals  of  Central  Europe  are  of  the 
woodland  type,  but  no  detailed  classification 
into  steppe  and  woodland  animals  exists.  It 
may  be  useful,  therefore,  to  indicate  the  chief 


ANIMAL  LIFE  155 

kinds  of  mammals  found  in  the  European 
area,  grouped  according  to  affinity,  in  the 
absence  of  a  geographical  classification. 

Mammals,  apart  from  the  egg-laying  mono- 
tremes,  and  the  marsupials  of  Australia,  are 
divided  into  nine  orders,  and  of  these,  one, 
that  including  the  anteaters,  etc.,  of  South 
America,  Africa  and  India,  is  entirely  unrep- 
resented in  Europe.  Another,  the  Ceta- 
ceans, or  whales,  has  no  land  representatives ; 
and  the  same  is  true  of  the  aberrant  sea-cows, 
though  their  ancestors  lived  on  land  and 
occurred  in  Egypt. 

Excluding  these  orders  we  are  left  with 
six  which  have  European  representatives. 
These  are  the  following: — 

Primates,  or  monkeys  and  apes. 

Insectivores,  or  insect-eating  mammals,  such 
as  moles,  shrews  and  hedgehogs. 

Chiroptera,  or  bats. 

Ungulates,  or  hoofed  animals,  including 
horses,  cattle,  sheep,  deer,  pigs,  etc. 

Carnivores,  or  flesh-eaters,  including  lions, 
cats,  foxes,  dogs,  etc. 

Rodents,  or  gnawing  animals,  among  which 
are  rats,  mice,  squirrels,  etc. 

The  Primates  are  represented  by  one  form 
only,  the  Barbary  ape,  found  in  Gibraltar. 


156  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

Bats  are  numerous,  but  are  of  less  geographi- 
cal interest  than  land  forms.  The  remaining 
four  orders  are  all  important.  The  Ungulates 
include  the  largest  land  mammals,  and  their 
size  and  conspicuous  nature  have  led  to  the 
gradual  replacement  of  the  wild  forms  by- 
domesticated  ones.  Only  a  very  few,  such  as 
deer,  wild  goats  (ibex),  the  wild  boar,  the  wild 
sheep  (moufflon)  of  Corsica,  manage  to  sur- 
vive, and  that  mostly  by  aid  of  special  protec- 
tion. The  presence  of  the  large  wild  forms 
is  incompatible  with  almost  any  form  of 
agriculture  as  is  often  proved  disastrously  in 
Africa,  hence  man's  ruthless  warfare  upon 
them. 

But  if  man  has  destroyed  the  large  ungu- 
lates he  has  found  himself  unable  even  to 
reduce  the  numbers  of  the  Rodents,  who  gain 
in  many  ways  by  civilisation.  The  destruc- 
tion of  their  rivals,  the  grass-eating  ungulates, 
increases  their  natural  food-supply.  In 
South  America,  where  there  were  very  few 
ungulates  till  the  white  man  brought  his 
flocks  and  herds,  the  rodents  were  very 
numerous  and  reached  a  great  size.  Again, 
the  operations  of  agriculture  give  the  rodents 
enormous  artificial  sources  of  food-supply, 
and  the  number  of  man's  domesticated  or 


ANIMAL  LIFE  157 

semi-domesticated  animals  makes  him  wage 
a  bitter  war  against  the  small  carnivores,  the 
natural  enemies  of  the  rodents.  Protected 
from  their  enemies,  abundantly  fed  by  man's 
providence,  it  is  no  wonder  that  these  small 
animals  have  multiplied  greatly. 

Their  multiplication  has  been  assisted  by 
the  fact  that  they  inherit  from  their  early 
days,  when  the  struggle  was  keen,  an  enor- 
mous fertility.  Many  of  the  rodents  are 
steppe  animals,  and  share  with  steppe  organ- 
isms in  general  the  power  of  periodic  multi- 
plication in  enormous  numbers. 

The  steppe  is  a  region  where  the  rainfall  is 
normally  just  enough  to  ensure  a  free  growth 
of  grass  at  certain  seasons.  Variations  in 
rainfall,  which  perhaps  occur  in  great  cycles, 
may  at  one  time  produce  a  luxuriance  of 
growth  which  increases  the  food-supply  all 
round,  and  at  another  give  rise  to  semi- 
desert  conditions  with  a  resulting  enormous 
death-rate.  The  steppe  organisms,  then, 
must  be  very  fertile  because  of  the  risks  of 
their  environment,  and  the  Asiatic  overflow 
is  possibly  determined  by  successions  of 
years  of  abundant  rainfall,  which  increase 
the  number  of  individuals,  followed  by  a 
series  of  years  of  scanty  rain,  which  make  it 


158  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

necessary  for  the  overflow  of  population  to 
migrate. 

Among  examples  of  European  rodents  we 
may  mention  the  very  destructive  rats,  mice 
and  voles,  which  practically  feed  everywhere 
at  man's  expense;  and  the  hamster,  an 
Asiatic  form  which  reaches  as  far  west  as  the 
Rhine,  and  stores  large  quantities  of  corn  and 
other  food  in  an  elaborately  made  burrow. 
The  hamster  has  the  rodent  power  of  rapid 
multiplication,  and  is  often  terribly  destruc- 
tive to  cultivated  crops.  Rabbits  are  simi- 
larly very  destructive  where  special  precau- 
tions are  not  taken.  Even  the  porcupine  of 
southern  Europe  is  capable  of  doing  consider- 
able damage.  Less  serious  enemies  of  man 
are  such  forms  as  the  following:  —  lemmings; 
marmots,  of  which  there  are  two  forms,  an 
Alpine  and  an  Asiatic,  the  latter  extending 
like  the  other  steppe  animals  into  the  plains  of 
central  Europe;  beavers;  squirrels;  dormice; 
etc.  These  examples  may  be  sufficient  to 
illustrate  the  important  points  in  regard  to 
the  rodents — their  destructiveness,  their 
fertility,  and  the  fact  that  many  were  origin- 
ally inhabitants  of  steppes  and  open  plains, 
but  tend,  as  man  clears  the  forest-land  for  his 
own  purposes,  to  extend  their  range  to  the 


ANIMAL  LIFE  159 

cleared  land,  and  to  appropriate  the  new  and 
extensive  food-supply  furnished  by  man's 
industry. 

While  the  ungulates,  because  of  the  nature 
of  their  food,  must  almost  necessarily  be 
rather  large  animals,  the  carnivores  occur 
both  in  large  and  small  forms.  The  ten- 
dency is  for  the  large  forms  to  be  killed  out 
with  the  progress  of  civilisation;  thus  the  lion 
has  wholly  disappeared  from  Europe,  wolf 
and  bear  are  almost  gone,  but  a  considerable 
number  of  smaller  forms  still  remain,  such 
as  badger,  genet,  wolverene,  lynx,  wild  cat, 
stoat,  marten,  weasel,  etc.  The  last  order  to 
be  mentioned,  that  of  the  Insectivores,  in- 
cludes small  mammals,  such  as  moles,  shrews, 
and  hedgehogs,  which  feed  largely  on  insects, 
but  may  be  partially  vegetarians. 

As  was  to  be  expected  from  the  climate  and 
from  the  peculiar  flora,  the  Mediterranean 
region  possesses  a  richer  fauna  than  central 
Europe,  both  as  regards  mammals  and  lower 
forms.  Even  the  European  portion  shows 
considerable  African  influence. 

A  few  words  must  be  said  about  other  land 
animals  apart  from  mammals.  In  regard 
to  birds  it  is  noticeable  that  the  habit  of 
migration,  and  the  fact  that  the  greater  part 


160  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

of  the  continent  of  Europe  lies  on  the  direct 
line  between  the  northern  breeding  grounds  of 
many  species  and  the  southern  winter  quar- 
ters, gives  Europe  a  very  rich  bird  fauna. 
The  British  Islands  owe  to  their  peculiarly 
mild  climate  a  rich  bird  fauna  at  all  seasons, 
for  while  the  summer  climate  attracts  many 
forms  for  nesting  purposes,  the  mild  winter 
brings  many  migrants  flying  from  the  cold  of 
continental  Europe. 

In  regard  to  birds  as  well  as  to  other 
animals,  the  Mediterranean  owes  to  its  warm 
climate  a  richer  fauna  than  countries  farther 
north.  Some  interesting  southern  forms, 
such  as  pelican,  flamingo  and  ibis,  reach  this 
region,  though  not  extending  into  central 
Europe,  except  as  stragglers. 

The  climate  of  Europe  is  not  hot  enough 
anywhere  to  lead  to  the  presence  of  a  rich 
reptilian  fauna,  but  there  is,  again,  a  marked 
increase  to  the  south.  It  is  stated  that  there 
are  only  twenty-one  species  of  reptiles  in 
central  Europe,  while  there  are  fifty-nine  in 
southern  Europe,  and  no  less  than  a  hundred 
and  forty  in  the  Mediterranean  region  taken 
in  the  large  sense.  Poisonous  forms  are  few, 
and  do  not,  as  in  hotter  countries,  constitute 
a  serious  menace  to  man.     Very  interesting 


ANIMAL  LIFE  161 

is  the  presence  of  the  chameleon  in  southern 
Spain,  as  in  north  Africa. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  human  aspect 
of  the  European  reptiles  is  the  presence  of 
numbers  of  insect-eating  forms.  In  the 
warmer  parts  of  Europe  every  wall  or  patch 
of  rock  seems  alive  with  lizards  in  the  summer 
sunshine,  and  these  must  play  a  not  incon- 
siderable part  in  the  keeping  down  of  noxious 
insects. 

Omitting  a  great  number  of  other  groups, 
we  may  say  something  about  insects,  which 
are  of  enormous  importance  in  human  life, 
both  directly  and  indirectly. 

It  has  been  shown  of  late  years  that  many 
insects  are  the  sole  means  by  which  certain 
very  deadly  diseases  are  transmitted  from 
man  to  man,  or  from  one  animal  to  another. 
Almost  every  few  months  a  new  announce- 
ment of  an  insect-carried  disease  is  made,  but 
the  most  important  forms  are  the  following:  — 
Mosquitoes  and  gnats  transmit  such  diseases 
as  malaria,  yellow  fever,  and  more  horrible 
diseases  still,  due  to  the  presence  in  the  blood 
of  small  parasitic  worms.  Tsetse  flies  carry 
sleeping  sickness,  and  also  transmit  the  very 
fatal  fly  disease  of  domesticated  animals,  a 
fact  which  has  been  and  is  of  great  importance 


162  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

in  the  settlement  of  Africa.  In  the  case  of 
most  diseases  there  seems  to  be  a  close  connec- 
tion between  one  particular  species  of  insect 
and  a  particular  disease. 

Mosquitoes  and  gnats  are  very  abundant 
in  many  parts  of  Europe,  and  the  forms 
belonging  to  the  genus  Anopheles,  which 
carry  the  germ  of  malaria,  are  widely  dis- 
tributed. In  parts  of  the  Mediterranean 
area  their  presence  is  associated  with  the 
prevalence  of  malaria,  which  has  existed 
there  for  a  prolonged  period,  and  is  believed 
by  some  to  have  had  an  important  bearing 
upon  the  fates  of  the  ancient  civilisations  of 
the  Mediterranean  basin. 

The  regions  in  Europe  affected,  or  seriously 
affected,  by  malaria  are  diminishing  yearly. 
This  is  now  due  to  conscious  efforts,  but  a 
similar  process  has  been  going  on  probably 
for  a  long  period,  for  many  obscure  diseases, 
notably  "ague,"  seem  to  have  been  forms  of 
malaria.  Their  disappearance  seems  to  be 
due  to  drainage,  which  diminishes  the  breed- 
ing places  of  the  mosquitoes,  and  also  to  the 
progress  of  agriculture,  for  ponds  which 
form  on  rich,  well-manured  land  are  appar- 
ently unsuited  to  mosquito  larvse.  The 
subject  is  of  great  geographical  importance, 


ANIMAL  LIFE  163 

for  the  spread  of  man  over  the  surface  of  the 
globe,  and  the  progress  of  civilisation  must 
have  been  influenced  in  all  time  by  the 
prevalence  of  fly-borne  disease.  Such  dis- 
eases have  hitherto  been  the  greatest  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  the  civilisation  of  Africa. 

In  Uganda  extensive  tracts  of  fertile 
wooded  land  have  had  to  be  abandoned  on 
account  of  the  presence  there  of  the  tsetse 
fly,  while,  prior  to  this  abandonment,  there 
were  districts  in  which  every  living  soul  had 
been  destroyed  by  the  deadly  sleeping  sick- 
ness transmitted  by  this  fly.  We  can  hardly 
suppose  that  such  facts  are  without  a  parallel 
in  human  history;  and  man's  distribution 
over  the  surface  of  the  globe,  and  in  detail 
the  distribution  of  his  settlements  within  a 
country,  have  doubtless  been  greatly  in- 
fluenced by  the  distribution  even  of  such 
insignificant  creatures  as  the  various  kinds 
of  flies. 

Even  apart  from  their  power  of  transmit- 
ting disease,  the  blood-sucking  flies  must  have 
influenced  man  in  his  choice  of  localities  for 
settlements,  and  must  have  been  an  im- 
portant factor  in  the  process  of  adjustment 
to  his  surroundings.  The  naturalist  Brehm 
gives  an  appalling  picture  of  the  number  and 


164  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

blood-thirstiness  of  the  mosquitoes  of  the 
Siberian  tundra,  which  render  life  almost 
intolerable  there  for  both  man  and  beast  in 
summer.  Even  within  the  British  Islands 
the  uncultivated  and  undrained  regions  are 
often  badly  infested  with  small  blood-sucking 
flies,  and  their  numbers  must  have  been  vastly 
greater  in  the  old  days  before  drainage  and 
intensive  cultivation  had  reduced  them.  It 
is  quite  possible  that  some  of  the  anomalies 
in  regard  to  the  spread  of  particular  races 
of  men  over  the  surface  can  be  explained  by 
the  varying  susceptibility  of  different  races 
to  insect  attack,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  blood-sucking  insects  must  have 
had  some  effect  in  determining  the  rapidity 
or  slowness  with  which  particular  tracts  were 
colonised  by  man. 

Apart  from  the  blood-sucking  flies,  there 
are  many  other  interesting  points  about  the 
insects  of  Europe,  notably  the  wealth  of 
beautiful  and  striking  forms  which  occur 
round  the  Mediterranean  basin.  One  of 
these,  which  extends  northwards  and  west- 
wards to  northern  France,  is  the  curious 
Praying  Mantis,  a  predatory  insect  belonging 
to  the  same  order  as  the  locust.  It  is  an  east- 
ern form,  which,  like  so  many  others,  has 


ANIMAL  LIFE  165 

taken  advantage  of  the  mild  climate  of 
western  Europe  to  extend  its  range  far  be- 
yond what  we  must  regard  as  its  natural  limits. 
In  France  it  shows  the  effect  of  relatively 
unfavourable  conditions  in  the  fact  that  it 
takes  some  nine  to  ten  months  for  the  eggs 
to  hatch,  whereas  in  hotter  countries  the 
process  may  take  place  in  a  few  weeks. 
In  the  warmer  parts  of  Europe  a  very 
striking  feature  is  the  number  and  large 
size  of  the  members  of  the  locust  and  grass- 
hopper families,  whose  shrill  noise  is  so 
characteristic  a  sound  in,  for  example,  the 
pastures  of  Switzerland  in  summer-time. 
Among  the  locusts  there  occur,  in  many  parts 
of  Europe,  those  migratory  forms  which 
possess  that  power  of  periodic  enormous 
multiplication  which  we  have  already  noted 
so  frequently  among  grassland  animals.  The 
migratory  instinct  only  seems  to  develop 
when  the  numbers  have  greatly  increased  in 
any  given  locality,  and  in  Europe  generally 
the  climate  does  not  permit  this  to  take 
place.  It  does,  however,  occur  in  the  south- 
east of  the  Mediterranean  basin,  notably  in 
the  island  of  Cyprus,  in  Syria,  and  also  in 
Northern  Africa,  where  locusts  sometimes 
reach  the  dimensions  of  a  plague. 


166  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

We  may  add  to  this  account  of  land  ani- 
mals a  few  details  on  the  land  mammals  of 
North  America.  The  great  point  of  contrast 
here  is  that  Europe,  from  the  beginning  of 
the  historic  period,  has  always  been  a  rela- 
tively well-peopled  region,  while  in  America, 
prior  to  the  advent  of  the  white  man,  the 
population  was  scanty.  There  was  thus  far 
more  room  in  North  America  than  in  Europe 
for  great  flocks  of  large  mammals.  Thus 
the  plains  and  prairies  carried  great  herds  of 
bison,  while  to  the  north  there  were  other 
herds  of  reindeer,  which  were  never  tamed  by 
the  inhabitants  of  North  America  as  they 
were  in  the  Old  World  by  the  Lapps  and 
others.  The  musk-ox  is  another  interesting 
animal  found  in  the  north  of  America.  It 
once  also  lived  in  Europe,  but  died  out  long 
ago.  Just  as  the  coniferous  forest  and  tundra 
in  Asia  produce  many  small  fur-bearing 
animals,  so  do  the  forest  and  tundra  of  North 
America.  Deer  are  present  as  in  the  Old 
World,  though  they  are  of  different  types, 
and  there  is  a  curious  animal  known  as  the 
prong-buck  which  is  peculiar.  Wild  sheep 
occur  as  they  do  in  Europe,  but  no  wild  horse 
nor  ass  roams  the  plains  of  America  as  they 
roam  to-day  the  wastes  of  Asia.     Without 


ANIMAL  LIFE  167 

going  into  further  detail,  we  may  say  gener- 
ally that  as  regards  wild  animals,  no  less  than 
as  regards  wild  plants,  North  America  shows 
a  closer  resemblance  to  Asia  than  to  that 
favoured  peninsula  of  Asia  which  the  geog- 
raphers call  Europe. 


CHAPTER  VII 

CULTIVATED   PLANTS   AND   DOMESTICATED 
ANIMALS 

Before  proceeding  to  discuss  the  chief 
races  of  men  in  Europe,  something  must  be 
said  of  its  cultivated  plants  and  animals. 
Originally,  doubtless,  the  various  human 
groups  which  have  mingled  in  Europe  had 
each  their  own  type  of  culture,  based  upon 
the  possession  and  cultivation  of  particular 
animals  and  plants.  The  lapse  of  time  has 
caused  so  complete  an  intermixture  that  it 
is  only  possible  to  a  very  small  extent  to  dis- 
entangle the  different  elements  which  have 
gone  to  the  making  of  present  day  civilisa- 
tion. Nevertheless,  as  climatic  differences 
remain  and  still  determine  minor  differences, 
it  seems  worth  while  to  consider  briefly  the 
distribution  of  cultivated  plants  and  domesti- 
cated animals  at  the  present  day. 

Europe  has  been  so  strongly  influenced  by 
168 


CULTIVATED   PLANTS  169 

the  neighbouring  land-masses  of  which  it 
forms  a  part,  that  we  must  begin  with  a  few 
words  about  them. 

The  great  continent  of  Asia,  of  which 
Europe,  as  we  have  seen,  is  but  a  peninsula, 
can  be  divided  into  a  series  of  zones,  dis- 
tinguished alike  by  climate  and  by  vegeta- 
tion. To  the  north  we  have  the  cold  tundra 
region,  passing  to  the  south  into  the  forest 
region.  The  Asiatic  forest  region  is  continu- 
ous with  that  of  Europe,  but  while  the  Euro- 
pean forest  extends  southward  till  Mediter- 
ranean conditions  intervene,  close  to  the  sea 
of  that  name,  the  Asiatic  forest  has  its  south- 
ern limit  in  about  the  latitude  of  London. 
To  the  south  of  the  Asiatic  forest  stretches  a 
zone  of  steppes  passing  into  desert,  and  even 
into  tundra  in  the  elevated  regions  of  Central 
Asia.  The  steppe  region,  as  we  have  already 
indicated,  enters  Europe  by  way  of  Russia  and 
pushes  a  long  arm  up  the  Danube  into 
Hungary. 

South  of  the  Asiatic  steppes  and  deserts 
comes  an  interrupted  band  of  warm  temper- 
ate or  tropical  forest,  luxuriant  to  the  east 
where  there  are  summer  rains,  scanty  and 
scrub-like  to  the  west,  where  Asia  meets  the 
Mediterranean. 


170  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

The  steppes  and  desert  of  Asia  are  popu- 
lated, scantily  enough,  with  wandering  pas- 
toral nomads,  who  constantly  tend  to  over- 
flow from  their  own  region  into  those  of  the 
surrounding  agricultural  populations.  These 
agricultural  populations  are  concentrated  in 
three  areas,  all  specially  favoured  by  nature. 
To  the  east  the  summer  rains,  the  luxuriant 
indigenous  flora,  and  the  presence  of  great 
river  valleys,  that  is,  of  naturally  fertile  re- 
gions, led  to  the  early  establishment  of  agri- 
cultural populations  in  China  and  India. 
Further  to  the  west,  the  fertile  valleys  of  the 
Tigris  and  Euphrates  early  saw  the  founding 
of  a  great  civilisation.  This  region,  the  Meso- 
potamia of  geographers,  is  very  near  the  third 
area,  the  Mediterranean,  though  far  enough 
removed  to  have  a  very  scanty  rainfall,  which 
made  irrigation  a  necessity  for  agriculture. 
Its  inter-relations  with  the  Mediterranean 
must  have  begun  early,  and,  remembering 
that  part  of  the  Mediterranean  itself  is  in 
Asia,  we  need  not  stop  to  discuss  the  vexed 
question  as  to  whether  the  Mediterranean 
civilisation  was  largely  indigenous,  or  origin- 
ated in  the  continent  of  Asia.  It  is  often 
difficult  to  ascertain  whether  plants  which 
have  long  been  grown  in  the  Mediterranean 


CULTIVATED   PLANTS  171 

area,  and  are  well-fitted  to  it,  are  really  in- 
digenous there,  or  were  brought  to  it  from 
the  Mesopotamian  countries.  There  is  much 
similarity  of  climatic  conditions,  and  for  our 
purpose  it  is  sufficient  to  note  that  the  culti- 
vated plants  of  the  Mediterranean  bas'n  fall 
into  three  main  categories.  There  are,  first, 
the  plants  specially  adapted  to  its  climate; 
these  are  either  native  or  were  introduced 
from  the  countries  close  at  hand.  Second, 
there  are  many  plants,  much  less  perfectly 
adapted  to  conditions  of  drought,  and  there- 
fore often  demanding  irrigation  in  summer, 
which  were  introduced  from  the  Far  East, 
after  they  had  been  cultivated  there  for  long 
periods.  Thirdly,  and  much  fewer  in  num- 
ber, there  are  the  plants  introduced,  at  a  rela- 
tively late  date,  from  America. 

Of  the  first  group  the  most  important  are 
the  cereals  barley  and  wheat,  and  the  olive 
and  the  vine.  These  four  have  been  known 
in  the  area  from  the  earliest  times,  and  they 
still  form  the  basis  of  the  diet  of  Mediter- 
ranean peoples.  Bread,  olive  oil  to  replace 
the  butter  used  by  pastoral  peoples,  wine  as  a 
beverage,  with  fresh  grapes  and  the  dried 
forms  of  raisins  and'currants,  these  early  made 
life  possible  in  the  Mediterranean  area. 


172  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

Barley  is  older  than  wheat,  and  is  more 
productive  but  less  valuable.  It  is  now 
largely  grown  in  the  basin  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean as  a  food  for  horses,  instead  of  oats 
which,  like  rye,  is  a  cereal  not  well  suited  to 
the  Mediterranean  climate.  As  a  bread  plant 
it  was  early  replaced  in  the  Mediterranean 
by  wheat,  but  it  is  still  used  to  make  bread 
in  some  other  parts  of  Europe,  e.  g.  in  Scan- 
dinavia, and  is  also  of  importance  outside 
the  Mediterranean  as  the  origin  of  fermented 
beverages. 

Wheat  is  the  most  valuable  bread  plant 
which  exists,  both  on  account  of  its  proteid 
content  and  on  account  of  its  digestibility. 
It  demands  a  warm  dry  period  for  ripening, 
with  much  sunshine,  and  is  well  adapted  to 
Mediterranean  conditions.  Here  it  is  sown 
in  the  autumn,  to  enable  it  to  take  advantage 
of  the  "early  and  the  latter  rain,"  i.  e.  the 
autumn  and  spring  rains,  and  ripens  early 
before  the  excessive  drought  of  summer  sets 
in.  Like  barley  it  has  always  been  associated 
with  plough  culture,  the  animal  used  being 
the  ox.  According  to  most  authorities  plough 
culture  originated  in  Mesopotamia. 

The  vine  and  olive  are  apparently  both 
indigenous  to  the  Mediterranean,  and  both 


CULTIVATED  PLANTS  173 

are  well  adapted  to  withstand  drought.  In 
regard  to  the  vine  there  are  several  interest- 
ing points.  To  the  traveller  from  the  north 
it  is  most  familiar  in  France  or  Germany, 
where  it  is  grown  on  sunny  slopes,  usually 
terraced  to  prevent  stagnant  water  from 
lying.  In  the  Mediterranean,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  planted  in  hollows,  or  low-lying 
ground,  which  permits  of  the  collection  of 
water,  for  it  will  receive  no  summer  rain. 
The  vintage  is  more  secure  than  further  north, 
and  the  resistance  to  the  attacks  of  parasites 
is  greater,  yet,  curiously  enough,  the  Mediter- 
ranean countries  do  not  produce  the  finest 
wines.  This  seems  to  be  partly  because  the 
climate  does  not  permit  of  the  long  storage 
necessary  for  maturing  to  take  place.  The 
cool  cellars,  so  important  in  the  wine  industry 
further  north,  are  here  absent. 

To  the  four  plants  which  we  have  men- 
tioned we  must  add  such  forms  as  the  fig, 
which  if  not  indigenous  was  of  very  early  in- 
troduction; garlic,  greatly  valued  as  a  flavour- 
ing matter;  various  kinds  of  pulse;  sesame; 
millet,  once  widely  grown  though  no  longer 
important,  and  flax,  known  from  remote  an- 
tiquity. 

The  second  group,  that  comprising  plants 


174  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

introduced  from  the  Far  East,  includes  many 
valuable  fruit  trees,  which  in  the  region  of  the 
absolutely  rainless  summer  mostly  require 
irrigation.  The  peach  came  from  China  in 
the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great;  the  various 
citrus  fruits,  lemon,  orange,  lime,  citron,  etc., 
now  so  characteristic  a  feature,  were  intro- 
duced from  China  or  India.  India  also  gave 
rice,  extensively  cultivated  during  long  ages, 
and  still  extensively  consumed,  though  the 
facility  with  which  communication  with  the 
East  is  now  effected  makes  it  relatively  little 
grown,  except  in  the  plain  of  Lombardy, 
which  is  easily  irrigated.  China  sent  the 
white  mulberry,  and  with  it  the  cultivation 
of  the  silkworm,  so  important  in  many  re- 
gions. From  the  Far  East  also  came  the 
sugar-cane,  very  important  till  the  recent  de- 
velopment of  the  sugar  beet  industry.  Cot- 
ton also  was  probably  introduced  from  the 
Far  East,  which  thus  supplied  many  culti- 
vated plants  and  has  enormously  enriched  life 
for  Mediterranean  man. 

Of  the  American  plants  of  late  introduction 
the  most  interesting  is  maize,  which  fed  the 
somewhat  limited  indigenous  civilisation  of 
North  America.  Maize  requires  a  warm 
climate  with  much  sunshine,  but  needs  much 


CULTIVATED  PLANTS  175 

moisture  during  its  short  growing  season. 
It  is  not  a  very  valuable  cereal,  but  it  is 
enormously  productive  and  therefore  cheap. 
Generally  it  may  be  said  to  be  used  as  food 
by  man  only  when  necessity  compels  its 
use.  It  is  thus  employed  by  subject  races, 
e.  g.  negroes,  and  by  the  poor  in  the  warmer 
parts  of  Europe.  In  the  Mediterranean  it 
is  not  sufficiently  valuable  to  be  grown  on 
irrigated  land,  and  it  will  not  grow  without 
irrigation  where  the  summer  is  rainless. 
Where  there  are  summer  rains,  however,  as 
in  North  Italy,  or  where  mountain  slopes 
increase  the  rainfall,  as  in  parts  of  Greece, 
or  where  the  land  is  rendered  valueless  for 
wheat  by  winter  flooding,  there  maize  is 
grown.  Generally  it  occurs  within  the  Medi- 
terranean area  wherever  the  necessary  water 
occurs  naturally  or  can  be  supplied  cheaply. 
It  forms  a  very  important  part  of  the  food 
of  the  poor  in  North  Italy,  for  example,  but 
not  in  the  south,  where  water  is  too 
costly. 

Two  other  important  plants  of  American 
origin  are  tobacco  and  the  potato.  The  latter 
plant  is  little  grown  in  the  Mediterranean, 
but  a  considerable  amount  of  tobacco  is 
produced.      Another    American    plant,    the 


176  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

prickly  pear,  besides  furnishing  an  edible 
fruit,  is  important  as  a  hedge  plant  within 
the  area. 

Cereals  in  the  Mediterranean  are  grown, 
as  we  have  seen,  on  ploughed  land,  as  else- 
where. A  more  characteristic  form  of  culti- 
vation is  garden-culture,  practised  where 
water  can  be  obtained  for  irrigation.  Such 
gardens  consist  primarily  of  fruit  trees,  all  the 
citrus  fruits,  peaches,  apricots,  pomegranates, 
pistachio,  almonds,  and  many  other  forms 
of  nuts,  plums,  even  apples  and  pears,  being 
grown  in  this  way.  So  productive  is  the 
ground  once  water  is  supplied,  that  plants  are 
grown  in  association  in  a  fashion  hardly  sug- 
gested in  the  north.  Thus  among  the  fruit 
trees  many  different  kinds  of  vegetables, 
such  as  garlic,  cucumbers,  leeks,  salad  plants, 
many  sorts  of  melons,  tomatoes,  egg-plants, 
beans,  and  peas,  etc.,  are  grown.  Elsewhere 
one  may  see  corn  sown  beneath  the  olive 
trees,  and  the  vine  sharing  the  same  ground 
with  them. 

The  picture  of  Mediterranean  life  may  be 
completed  by  adding  a  few  words  about  the 
domesticated  animals.  These  are  naturally 
in  essence  the  same  as  those  further  north, 
but  their  relative  numbers  and  the  uses  to 
which  they  are  put  are  different. 


CULTIVATED  PLANTS  177 

The  dog  and  cat  both  occur,  but  the  former 
has  little  importance  in  the  pastoral  indus- 
tries, and  is  largely  a  watch  animal,  insuffi- 
ciently fed,  and  therefore  important  as  a 
sanitary  agent  in  that  it  devours  garbage. 
Among  the  ungulates  or  hoofed  animals,  the 
ass  was  domesticated  in  the  region  long  be- 
fore the  horse,  and  it  and  the  mule  are  still 
more  important  than  the  horse,  partly,  no 
doubt,  because  both  are  hardier,  and  the 
problem  of  food  is  a  difficulty  in  the  largely 
pastureless  Mediterranean  region. 

Few  camels  now  occur  in  Europe,  where 
they  have  been  always  closely  associated 
with  Mahometans,  appearing  and  disappear- 
ing with  them. 

The  pasturage  difficulty  greatly  reduces 
the  importance  of  cattle,  which  are  draught 
animals  rather  than  a  source  of  food.  As 
draught  animals  cattle  go  back  to  the  dawn 
of  history,  but  their  numbers  are  small  and 
the  use  of  either  their  flesh  or  their  milk  as 
food  is  insignificant.  Philippson  in  his  book 
on  the  Mediterranean  gives  some  striking 
figures  to  illustrate  the  difference  in  numbers 
between  the  cattle  of  the  Mediterranean 
countries  and  those  of  Central  Europe. 
Spain  has  only  2.1  million  cattle,  and  yet  it 


178  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

is  scarcely  smaller  than  Germany,  which  has 
19  millions;  Switzerland  has  1,340,000  head  of 
cattle,  and  Greece,  which  is  about  half  as 
large  again,  has  only  360,000.  It  is  to  be  noted, 
however,  that  the  irrigated  plains  of  North 
Italy  now  support  a  considerable  amount  of 
cattle,  whose  milk  gives  rise  to  a  considerable 
cheese  industry;  but,  then,  the  olive  will  not 
grow  in  North  Italy,  which  is  therefore  not 
strictly  within  the  Mediterranean  area. 

The  Arabs  introduced  the  Indian  buffalo 
which  has  spread  considerably,  and  is  now 
found  in  South  Italy  and  the  Balkan  penin- 
sula.  The  pig  has  been  banished  from  parts 
of  the  region  on  religious  grounds,  but  else- 
where it  chiefly  thrives  where  oak  forests 
grow,  the  acorn  being  an  important  part  of 
its  food.  The  really  important  ungulates, 
however,  are  sheep  and  goats,  which  are 
often  very  numerous,  and  which,  apart  from 
birds  and  fish,  furnish  the  most  important 
part  of  the  animal  food  of  the  inhabitants. 
The  milk  furnishes  cheese,  which  is  an  im- 
portant element  of  diet,  while  leather,  wool 
and  hair  are  also  important  products. 

The  goats  chiefly  feed  upon  the  young 
shoots  of  shrubs,  and  frequent  the  denser 
thickets,  while  the  sheep  browse  upon  the 


CULTIVATED   PLANTS  179 

grasses  and  herbs  to  be  found  in  the  more  open 
forms  of  maquis.  The  climate  permits  the 
animals  to  remain  in  the  open  during  the 
whole  year,  and  this  prevents  the  collection 
of  the  manure  for  the  arable  lands.  Further, 
the  summer  drought  makes  it  difficult  for 
even  these  hardy  animals  to  obtain  food,  and 
necessitates  in  many  regions  a  curious  form 
of  nomadism,  to  which  the  name  of  trans- 
humance  is  given.  Transhumance,  still  well 
developed  in  Spain,  is  the  periodic  and  al- 
ternating displacement  of  flocks  and  herds 
between  two  regions  of  different  climate. 

As  we  have  had  frequent  reason  to  remark, 
the  rainlessness  of  the  Mediterranean  summer 
is  locally  modified  by  many  causes,  notably 
by  elevation.  Mountains  may  receive  fre- 
quent showers,  while  the  plains  are  parched 
and  brown,  and  therefore  there  may  be 
pasture  on  the  mountains  while  there  is  none 
in  the  plains.  On  lofty  mountains  also  the 
winter  snow  lingers  long  enough  to  promote 
the  growth  of  summer  pasture.  While  there 
are  considerable  herds  of  sheep  and  goats, 
then,  it  may  be  necessary  for  the  flocks  and 
their  keepers  to  travel  to  the  mountains  in 
summer  and  back  to  the  plains  in  winter.  In 
Spain  these  periodic  migrations,  now  largely 


180  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

made  by  means  of  the  railway,  formerly 
took  place  by  well-defined  routes,  along  which 
the  immense  army  of  sheep,  accompanied 
by  a  smaller  army  of  attendants,  passed  twice 
a  year,  causing  enormous  destruction  to  the 
cultivated  lands  through  which  they  passed. 
Everywhere  the  conflict  between  shepherd 
and  husbandman  is  more  or  less  acute,  but  it 
seems  to  have  been  especially  acute  in  Spain, 
which  is  in  some  respects  a  link  between  Africa 
and  Europe.  Its  constant  liability  to  Arab 
invasion  made  agriculture  especially  difficult, 
while  frequent  wars  favoured  the  pastoral 
industry;  for  flocks  may  be  removed  to  a 
place  of  safety  on  an  alarm,  but  agriculture 
must  have  some  security  before  it  can  de- 
velop. In  the  semi-desert  regions  of  North 
Africa  some  form  of  pastoral  nomadism,  with 
the  social  polity  which  comes  from  pastoral 
nomadism,  was  the  natural  result  of  the 
physical  and  climatic  conditions,  and  Spain, 
like  the  lands  of  the  eastern  part  of  Europe, 
has  been  constantly  liable  to  have  its  nascent 
agriculture  destroyed  by  incursions  of  such 
pastoral  nomads.  In  both  cases  the  slow 
victory  of  the  agriculturists,  marked  by 
many  temporary  reverses,  affords  an  extraor- 
dinarily interesting  chapter  in  human  his- 


CULTIVATED  PLANTS  181 

tory.  A  stable  civilisation  must  always  be 
based  upon  agriculture,  but  every  disturbance 
of  an  old  and  stable  civilisation  has  tempora- 
rily encouraged  the  pastoral  as  contrasted 
with  the  agricultural  industries. 

In  regard  to  the  other  animals  of  the 
Mediterranean,  mention  need  only  be  made 
of  the  domesticated  birds.  The  fowl  has 
long  been  known;  it  is  believed  to  have  been 
introduced  from  the  East  eight  centuries  B.C. 
Both  the  eggs  and  the  flesh  are  of  great 
importance  as  a  source  of  food.  In  spite 
of  Roman  history,  geese  are  relatively  unim- 
portant, as  are  also  ducks,  but  the  turkey, 
late  introduction  from  America,  is  well  suited 
to  the  climate  and  has  become  important. 
Pigeons  are  everywhere  abundant,  sometimes 
so  much  so  that  their  manure  is  extensively 
used  as  a  fertiliser.  We  have  already  men- 
tioned silkworms,  and  students  of  classical 
history  know  that  bees  have  long  been  kept. 

If  we  sum  up  what  has  been  said  about 
Mediterranean  cultivated  plants,  we  may 
note  that  these  have  been  derived  partly 
from  native  plants,  partly  from  plants  native 
to  the  warm  forest  country  of  eastern  Asia, 
and  partly  from  American  plants.    Regarding 


182  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

for  a  moment  the  Eurasiatic  continent  as  a 
whole,  we  may  say  that  the  old  civilisations, 
both  to  the  east  and  to  the  west,  arose  in  the 
forest  regions — in  the  monsoon  forests  to  the 
east,  in  the  drought-resisting  forest  or  scrub 
of  the  west.  The  temperate  forest  of  Asia 
has  produced  no  great  civilisation,  and  the 
civilisation  of  the  temperate  forest  zone  of 
Europe  has  owed  much  to  the  earlier  civilisa- 
tion of  the  Mediterranean,  with  which  it  has 
always  had  free  communication. 

This  free  communication  has  taken  place 
chiefly  by  means  of  the  Mediterranean  sea- 
board of  France,  especially  by  means  of  the 
great  Rhone  valley,  which  forms  a  natural 
highway  to  the  north.  France,  with  both 
an  Atlantic  and  a  Mediterranean  seaboard, 
has  been  the  natural  intermediary  between 
the  Mediterranean  scrub  land,  with  its  char- 
acteristic civilisation,  and  the  temperate 
forest  region,  with  its  colder  climate,  and  its 
greater  rainfall,  which  produce  a  correspond- 
ing difference  in  the  cultivated  plants. 

We  have  seen  that  wheat  is  the  great  bread 
plant  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  it  is  interest- 
ing to  note  that  in  this  respect  France  is  al- 
most purely  Mediterranean.  It  is,  above  all, 
the  country  of  white  bread,  which  plays  a  very 


CULTIVATED  PLANTS  183 

important  part  in  the  dietary  of  the  people. 
In  ordinary  years  the  country  produces  nearly 
as  much  wheat  as  it  consumes. 

In  addition  to  this  large  use  of  wheat  as  a 
bread  plant,  France  shows  strong  Mediterra- 
nean influence  in  the  part  which  wine  plays 
in  the  dietary  of  the  people,  in  the  variety 
of  vegetables,  especially  kinds  of  pulse,  which 
are  grown;  in  the  fact  that  fowls  and  pork 
form  a  large  part  of  the  animal  food  con- 
sumed, and  in  that  flax  has  been  grown  in  con- 
siderable amounts  for  long  ages,  so  that  linen 
is  an  important  part  of  household  wealth. 
The  Midi  is  of  course  definitely  Mediterra- 
nean in  culture,  but  just  as  the  vine  extends 
far  to  the  north  and  west  so  also  do  Mediter- 
ranean influences  extend  far  beyond  the  re- 
gion of  Mediterranean  climate  and  Mediter- 
ranean flora. 

But  fertile  as  much  of  France  is,  it  must  not 
be  regarded  as  consisting  of  nothing  but 
fields  of  waving  wheat.  To  complete  and 
correct  the  picture  we  must  add  that,  as 
in  Russia,  considerable  amounts  of  buck- 
wheat are  grown  for  use  as  human  food. 
Buckwheat,  the  "black  wheat"  of  the  French, 
perhaps  introduced  by  the  Arabs,  is  not  a 
true  cereal,  but  a  relative  of  the  knot-grass 


184  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

of  British  fields.  It  is  very  easily  grown, 
even  on  poor  land,  and  in  France  replaces 
wheat  where  the  conditions  are  unfavourable, 
or  where  agriculture  is  backward.  It  is  not 
without  interest  to  note  that  while  its  use 
in  France  as  human  food  is  an  indication  of 
extreme  poverty,  in  the  United  States  buck- 
wheat cakes  take  a  place  as  a  luxury.  Oat- 
cakes in  lowland  Scotland,  "black  bread" 
in  well-to-do  households  in  Germany,  are 
other  similar  instances  of  the  reappearance 
of  a  despised  food-stuff  as  a  luxury.  Such 
foods  become  luxuries  when  they  can  be  used 
to  supplement,  not  to  replace,  white  bread. 
Most  of  the  buckwheat  of  France,  however, 
is  now  grown  as  food  for  domesticated 
animals. 

Again,  fruit  trees  are  extensively  grown 
in  France  as  in  the  Mediterranean  region,  with 
a  gradual  increase  in  the  forms  which  require 
more  moisture  and  less  heat  as  we  travel 
northwards.  The  typically  Mediterranean 
forms  early  disappear,  while  many  kinds  of 
plums,  pears  and  apples  increase  in  numbers 
and  in  value.  As  we  travel  northwards  also, 
the  various  forms  of  berries,  scarcely  repre- 
sented in  the  south,  increase  in  importance. 
The  strawberries  of  Brittany  form  a  good 


CULTIVATED  PLANTS  185 

example,  but  throughout  Europe  generally 
this  change  takes  place,  culminating  in  the 
enormous  wealth  of  wild  berries — cranberries, 
whortleberries,  and  so  on,  which  is  a  charac- 
teristic feature  of  the  Scandinavian  uplands 
in  late  summer. 

As  we  travel  to  the  north-west  also,  with  the 
increase  in  the  rainfall  and  the  consequent 
increase  in  pasturage,  the  number  of  cattle 
increases,  and  with  them  the  increased  use  of 
beef  as  food,  and  the  increased  use  of  cows' 
milk  and  milk  products.  This  is  well  seen  in 
the  broad  fields  of  Normandy,  while  still  fur- 
ther west,  in  the  British  Islands,  pastures  be- 
come more  and  more  extensive,  and  only  the 
existence  of  a  well-marked  "rain  shadow"  on 
the  eastern  seaboard,  which  is  robbed  of  much 
of  its  rainfall  by  the  hills  of  the  west,  makes 
the  extensive  growth  of  wheat  possible  in 
south-eastern  England.  With  the  increase  of 
pasture,  and  the  increased  cold  of  winter,  as 
compared  with  the  Mediterranean  area,  we 
have  stall-feeding,  with  the  possibility  of 
collecting  manure  for  the  fields.  The  nse- 
quence  is  that  England,  with  a  climate  very 
different  from  that  which  wheat  experiences 
elsewhere,  has  a  yield  per  acre  greater  than 
that   of   any   other   country    in   the   world. 


186  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

France,  despite  her  warmth  and  sunshine, 
only  gets  an  average  of  19  bushels  to  the  acre 
from  her  wheat  fields,  while  in  England,  where 
wheat  can  only  be  grown  at  a  profit  when  the 
conditions  are  especially  favourable,  the  aver- 
age yield  is  30  bushels  per  acre. 

In  those  parts  of  Europe  where  the  climate 
or  soil  does  not  suit  cereals,  even  such  cereals 
as  oats  and  rye,  there  is  a  tendency  for  these 
to  be  partially  replaced  as  the  basis  of  the 
diet  by  plants  requiring  less  sunshine  and 
tolerant  of  greater  moisture.  Thus  in  Ireland 
and  North  Germany,  the  potato  is  a  very 
important  article  of  diet,  while  in  France  and 
in  Mediterranean  regions  generally  it  is 
unimportant.  Similarly,  towards  the  north 
the  "fowl  in  the  pot"  tends  to  be  replaced 
by  fish,  in  the  case  of  those  who  cannot 
afford  beef  or  mutton. 

In  the  more  northern  regions  also,  with 
their  relatively  large  rainfall,  root  crops  play 
a  very  important  part.  Most  of  these  are 
grown  for  the  domestic  animals,  as  turnips, 
mangels,  swedes,  etc.,  a  phenomenon  which 
does  not  occur  in  the  Mediterranean  area 
to  any  extent;  but  the  sugar  beet,  whose 
cultivation  is  spreading  greatly  in  northern 


CULTIVATED  PLANTS  187 

and  central  Europe,  is  of  course  grown  for 
its  yield  of  sugar. 

We  have  seen  that  wine  is  the  universal 
drink  through  the  greater  part  of  France, 
and  this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  northern 
limit  of  the  vine,  so  far  as  wine-making  is 
concerned,  is  in  France  about  lat.  47}^°,  that 
is,  about  the  north  of  the  Loire.  In  Germany, 
the  vine  reaches  to  the  east,  in  the  Province 
of  Posen,  a  latitude  of  nearly  53°  N.,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  summers  grow  warmer 
as  we  pass  eastward.  Nevertheless,  in  Ger- 
many, as  a  general  rule,  wine  is  a  luxury,  the 
influence  of  Mediterranean  culture  being  less 
felt  than  in  France.  Throughout  Germany, 
as  throughout  northern  Europe  generally, 
wine  is  replaced  by  beverages  made  by  the 
fermentation  of  cereals  or  other  plant  prod- 
ucts rich  in  starch.  Throughout  Germany,  as 
throughout  much  of  England,  beer  is  the 
characteristic  drink,  and  associated  with  it 
we  have  the  growth  of  hops,  used  as  a  flavour- 
ing material.  Further  north  stronger  bever- 
ages tend  to  be  used. 

Another  plant  which  is  widely  grown  in  the 
more  northerly  parts  of  Europe,  especially 
in  Russia  and  the  Baltic  countries,  is  flax, 


188  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

which,  though  originally  Mediterranean,  is 
now  grown  for  its  fibre  chiefly  in  the  north, 
partly  because  it  is  especially  suited  for  flat 
moist  land. 

Having  now  looked  at  the  cultivated  plants 
of  the  Mediterranean  in  their  bearing  on  the 
life  of  the  inhabitants,  and  compared  with 
them  the  plants  cultivated  in  extra-Mediter- 
ranean areas,  let  us  conclude  this  chapter  by 
a  few  words  on  the  purely  pastoral  peoples. 
These  do  not  now  occur  in  Europe  in  unmodi- 
fied form,  but  the  Asiatic  steppes  still  contain 
pastoral  folk,  diminishing  with  the  progress 
of  civilisation.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
such  pastoral  folk  have  repeatedly  invaded 
Europe,  and  have  there  undergone  modifica- 
tions owing  to  the  different  conditions  which 
prevail. 

Of  pastoral  folk  in  the  unmodified  form  the 
Kirghiz  of  the  Asiatic  steppes  form  perhaps 
the  best  example.  They  are  pure  nomads, 
wandering  about  in  search  of  pasture  for  their 
numerous  herds,  and  dwelling  in  a  movable 
tent,  or  yurt,  which  can  be  readily  carried 
from  one  place  to  another.  The  herds  con- 
sist of  horses,  sheep,  goats,  cattle,  and  camels, 
and  the  females  of  all  these  animals  are  milked. 
The  Kirghiz  do  not  cultivate  land,  or  only 


CULTIVATED  PLANTS  189 

to  a  very  slight  extent,  and  practically  do  not 
eat  bread,  though  flour  and  rice,  obtained  by 
barter,  are  employed  by  the  richer.  Milk 
and  milk-products,  with  the  flesh  of  the  flocks, 
form  the  basis  of  the  diet,  and  a  milk-wine  or 
koumiss,  produced  by  the  fermentation  of 
milk,  is  the  characteristic  drink.  This  brief 
description  is  based  upon  that  of  the  traveller 
Brehm,  and  as  it  was  written  some  fifty  years 
ago,  matters  have  doubtless  changed  con- 
siderably since,  but  it  remains  as  the  typical 
picture  of  the  nomadic  pastoral  life.  In  the 
smaller  spaces  of  densely  populated  Europe 
it  would  of  course  be  impossible,  and  here 
pastoral  nomadism  is  mostly  replaced  by 
that  modified  form  known  as  transhumance 
upon  which  we  have  already  touched. 

As  the  European  peoples  of  Asiatic  origin 
are  specially  found  on  high  ground,  we  may 
conclude  by  contrasting  briefly  with  the 
above  the  life  of  the  pastoral  folk  of  Switzer- 
land. Here  there  is  no  yurt  or  movable 
tent,  but  the  old  conditions  are  suggested  by 
the  fact  that  each  family  may  possess  as 
many  as  four  houses.  Thus  in  some  of  the 
valleys  tributary  to  the  Rhone  in  the  canton 
Valais  the  following  conditions  occur. 

There  is  first  the  true  village,  where  each 


190  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

house  is  a  miniature  homestead,  with  dwelling, 
cow-house,  hayloft,  and  granaries  or  store- 
houses. Round  about  are  fields,  where  rye, 
the  characteristic  cereal,  is  grown,  with  some 
fodder  plants.  Higher  up  the  valley  is  the 
spring  pasture  or  "may en,"  whither  the  cows 
are  driven  in  May,  to  feed  until  the  alps  or 
high  pastures  are  clear  of  snow.  At  the 
mayen  there  are  cow-houses,  and  also  human 
habitations,  though  not  of  an  elaborate  type. 
Further  up,  again,  there  are  necessarily  huts 
near  the  high  pastures,  whither  a  few  men  only 
go  with  the  cows  as  herds,  and  where  the 
cheese  is  made.  The  fourth  village  is  placed 
on  the  hot  plain  of  the  Rhone  valley,  and  here 
are  the  vineyards  whose  produce  gives  the 
much-prized  wine,  and  orchards  which  yield 
fruit.  We  find  here  therefore  a  curious  com- 
bination of  pastoral  and  agricultural  life. 
Mostly  of  the  race  called  Alpine,  believed 
to  be  of  Asiatic  origin,  these  Swiss  folk  have 
borrowed  the  vine  and  the  use  of  wine  from 
the  Mediterranean  peoples.  The  large  part 
played  in  their  diet  by  milk  products,  espe- 
cially various  forms  of  cheese,  must  be  an 
inheritance  from  their  nomad  ancestors,  while 
the  rye,  which  is  their  bread  plant,  is  also 
a    heritage    from    Asiatic    ancestors.      The 


CULTIVATED  PLANTS  191 

occurrence  of  four  sets  of  dwellings  instead 
of  a  movable  one  is  an  adaptation  to  life  in  a 
settled  community,  confined  to  a  limited 
space.  The  whole  social  polity  is  thus  a 
curious  example  of  a  transitional  condition. 

We  have  thus,  in  successive  chapters,  shown 
that  in  Europe  three  chief  zones  of  vegetation 
exist,  the  Mediterranean  scrub  land,  the  tem- 
perate forest  zone,  the  steppe  or  pasture  land, 
and  that  as  each  of  these  is  determined  by 
climate,  each,  again,  has  special  types  of 
cultivated  plants  and  domesticated  animals, 
involving  a  special  social  polity  in  each  case. 
Now  it  is  interesting  to  note,  what  cannot  be 
a  pure  coincidence,  that  in  Europe  three 
races  of  men  exist,  which  show  a  certain 
rough  correspondence  to  the  three  zones  of 
vegetation. 

The  Mediterranean  type  of  vegetation  and 
climate  is  associated  with  a  particular  race, 
to  which  the  name  of  Mediterranean  has  been 
given.  The  race  is  by  no  means  confined  to 
the  Mediterranean  region — we  find  repre- 
sentatives of  it,  e.  g.  in  western  Ireland, — nor 
does  it  occupy  the  whole  of  that  region,  for 
in  many  places  it  is  pressed  hard  by  other 
races,  but  it  reaches  its  fullest  development 


192  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

within  the  Mediterranean  basin.  Curiously 
enough,  also,  its  presence  in  western  Ireland 
is  associated  with  the  presence  of  certain 
representatives  of  the  Mediterranean  flora, 
notably  the  arbutus  or  strawberry  tree  and 
St.  Dabeoc's  heath. 

The  characteristic  inhabitants  of  the  tem- 
perate forest  region  of  Europe  are  the  mem- 
bers of  the  race  called  Teutonic  or  Nordic, 
whose  particular  type  of  civilisation  is  deeply 
stamped  by  the  lessons  they  learnt  in  their 
early  struggle  with  the  forest. 

Finally,  the  steppe  and  pasture  lands, 
whether  in  parts  of  Russia,  in  the  Hungarian 
plain,  or  in  the  Alps  and  in  the  uplands  of 
Brittany  and  Central  Europe,  etc.,  tend  to 
be  occupied  by  a  third  race,  which  seems  to 
have  originated  in  the  steppes  of  Asia,  and 
to  which  the  somewhat  inappropriate  name 
of  Alpine  has  been  given,  though  it  occurs  in 
lowlands  to  the  east  as  well  as  in  uplands  to 
the  west.  This  race  seems  to  be  accompanied 
throughout  Europe  by  plants  and  animals  of 
Asiatic  origin. 

The  full  meaning  of  this  association  be- 
tween racial  peculiarities  and  types  of  vege- 
tion  cannot  perhaps  be  formulated  meantime, 
but  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  there  are 


CULTIVATED  PLANTS  193 

some  curiously  close  connections  between 
human  life  and  the  distribution  of  vegetation. 
For  instance,  all  travellers  in  Switzerland 
must  have  been  struck  by  the  curious  fact 
that  in  following  up  the  Rhone  valley  from 
the  lake  of  Geneva  to  the  Rhone  glacier  the 
French  language  is  found  to  extend  up  to  the 
town  of  Sion,  and  beyond,  without  any 
obvious  cause,  German  prevails.  It  has  been 
pointed  out  recently  that  the  eastward 
extension  of  the  French  language  here  marks 
also  the  eastward  extension  of  the  sweet 
chestnut — a  curious  coincidence. 

Again,  the  same  writer  points  out  that  the 
battle-ground  between  the  French  and  Ger- 
man peoples  round  the  Rhine  is  the  region 
where  the  growth  of  the  sweet  chestnut  as  a 
planted  tree  reaches  its  eastward  limit.  Such 
facts  must  not,  of  course,  be  over-emphasised. 
Both  must  indicate  a  climatic  change,  but  it 
can  hardly  be  supposed  that  this  change  of 
climate  is  sufficient  to  affect  man  directly.  It 
seems  at  least  justifiable  to  point  out  that 
every  human  group  which  reaches  any  degree 
of  civilisation  and  stability  must  depend  for 
its  permanence  in  the  early  stages  on  some 
special  skill  in  the  growing  of  certain  culti- 
vated plants,  and  the  rearing  of  certain  domes- 


194  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

ticated  animals.  We  have  much  reason  to 
believe  that  this  skill  is  often  difficult  to  ac- 
quire by  other  groups.  The  great  difficulties 
which  have  been  experienced  in  introducing 
e.  g.  Smyrna  figs  and  dates  into  the  United 
States;  the  fact  that  Europeans  seem  to  find 
it  impossible  to  manage  camels  without 
native  help,  and  that  they  have  been  hither- 
to unable,  despite  most  elaborate  and  costly 
experiments,  to  tame  the  African  elephant, 
seem  to  be  minor  illustrations  of  this  fact. 
Given,  then,  an  evolving  group  spreading  over 
the  surface  of  the  globe,  and  taking  with  it  its 
characteristic  plants  and  animals,  it  is  prob- 
able enough  that  such  a  change  of  climate, 
even  a  minor  change,  as  may  be  sufficient  to 
render  it  impossible  to  cultivate  these  plants, 
or  to  rear  these  animals,  may  give  a  definite 
and  more  or  less  permanent  check  to  the 
spread  of  the  race.  There  is  at  least  some 
evidence  to  this  effect,  and  it  gives  an  addi- 
tional interest  to  the  study  of  plant  geog- 
raphy. 

We  have  limited  ourselves  in  this  chapter 
practically  to  a  consideration  of  the  European 
area,  because  the  existing  cultivated  plants 
and  domesticated  animals  of  North  America 


CULTIVATED  PLANTS  195 

are  almost  all  derived  from  Europe,  with  the 
exceptions  already  indicated,  and  a  few  others 
not  of  great  importance,  and  their  distribu- 
tion in  America  is  determined  by  the  same 
conditions  as  in  Europe. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    RACES    OF    EUROPE    AND    THEIR 
ORIGIN 

We  have  spoken  in  the  previous  chapter 
of  the  three  chief  races  of  Europe,  but  before 
proceeding  to  discuss  them  in  detail  it  is 
necessary  to  clear  the  ground  of  certain 
misconceptions  and  difficulties. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  notion  that  nation- 
ality has  anything  to  do  with  race,  in  the 
anthropological  sense.  There  is  much  to  be 
said  for  the  view  that  the  European  civilisa- 
tions owe  their  development  largely  to  the 
mingling  of  races  which  has  occurred  within 
the  area;  it  is  at  least  certain  that  no  Euro- 
pean nation,  whatever  the  fervour  of  its 
citizens'  patriotism,  is  of  anthropologically 
pure  race.  There  is  no  British  race,  no 
French  race,  no  German  race,  even  though  the 
word  Germanic  is  sometimes  applied  to  one 
of  the  strains  which  occurs  in  the  German 
196 


THE  RACES  OF  EUROPE  197 

Empire.  We  recognise  this  fact,  of  course,  in 
our  popular  language,  for  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  Briton  of  Saxon  race  and  the 
Briton  of  Celtic  race  is  a  favourite  literary 
topic.  Unfortunately  for  accuracy,  the  peo- 
ple within  the  British  area  who  speak  Celtic 
languages  are  not  all  of  the  same  race,  and 
there  is  nothing  more  certain  than  the  fact 
that  few  of  them,  if  any,  have  any  distinct 
trace  of  Celtic  blood.  Although  in  literature 
also  the  comparison  between  the  "Celts"  of 
Brittany  and  the  "Celts"  of  Wales  and 
western  Great  Britain  generally  is  a  favourite 
one,  upon  which  many  deductions  have  been 
based,  it  is  certain  that  the  Bretons  are  not 
homogeneous,  and  that  they  have  language 
but  not  race  in  common  with  the  dark-haired 
Welsh. 

This  naturally  leads  us  to  the  second  point 
of  importance — that  language  has  nothing 
to  do  with  race.  In  his  book  on  the  Races  of 
Europe,  Ripley  illustrates  this  in  a  very 
interesting  way  by  a  consideration  of  the 
languages  and  races  of  the  Iberian  Peninsula. 
This  peninsula  shows  at  the  present  time 
relative  purity  of  race  — not  absolute  purity, 
for  a  mingling  has  certainly  occurred,  but 
nevertheless  one  race,  that  which  we  have 


198 


MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 


called  Mediterranean,  enormously  predomi- 
nates.    Yet  in  spite  of  this  relative  purity  of 


Fig.  13. — The  Iberian  Peninsula  and  part  of  France,  to  show 
the  distribution  of  languages,  and  their  independence  of  politi- 
cal boundaries.     (After  Ripley.) 


race,  the  peninsula  is  divided  between  two 
nationalities  and  no  less  than  three  languages. 
Portugal  forms  a  separate  nation  with  its  own 


THE  RACES  OF  EUROPE  199 

language,  while  Spain,  though  forming  one 
nation,  has  two  languages,  Castilian  or 
Spanish,  and  Catalan.  Catalan  is  nearly 
related  to  Langue  d'oc,  the  language  of 
Provence  across  the  French  border.  Pro- 
vencal again,  before  its  gradual  displace- 
ment by  the  Langue  d'oeil,  or  true  French, 
was  spoken  by  men  of  the  Mediterranean  as 
well  as  of  the  Alpine  race.  Within  both 
French  and  Spanish  territory  still  another 
language,  Basque,  is  spoken. 

In  other  words,  the  almost  uniform  race  of 
the  Iberian  peninsula  speaks  four  separate 
tongues,  the  Portuguese,  Castilian,  Catalan, 
and  Basque  languages,  and  the  political 
boundary  of  the  Pyrenees  separates  at  its 
eastern  end  two  groups  of  Mediterranean 
man,  speaking  similar  languages,  Catalan  or 
Provencal,  the  latter  of  which  is  also  spoken, 
or  was  spoken,  in  France  by  the  men  of 
another  race,  the  Alpine,  found  in  the  uplands 
of  southern  and  central  France,  as  well  as 
elsewhere. 

Ripley's  explanation  of  the  heterogeneity 
of  language  combined  with  homogeneity  of 
race  in  Spain  and  Portugal  is  interesting. 
The  peninsula  was  peopled  from  Africa  before 
the  dawn  of  history,  by  a  division  of  the 


200  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

Mediterranean  race  called  Iberian,  which 
traversed  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar.  This  race 
established  itself  firmly  in  the  peninsula 
and  has  persisted  there  despite  infusions  of 
other  races  from  the  north  and  north-east. 
But  the  road  from  Africa  remained  open,  and 
the  region  was  constantly  liable  to  new  in- 
vasions from  the  area  of  its  prime  origin. 
Differences  of  culture  produced  fierce  warfare 
between  the  incoming  and  the  old  established 
race,  and  led  temporarily  to  the  triumph  of 
the  invaders,  known  to  history  as  Saracens 
and  Moors.  The  original  Iberians,  like  the 
people  of  the  same  stock  in  Wales  and  parts 
of  the  Scottish  Highlands,  were  pushed  back 
to  the  mountains  of  Galicia,  to  the  hill  country 
of  Castile,  to  the  hills  of  Aragon  and  round 
and  over  the  Pyrenees  to  Languedoc  and  the 
south  of  France  generally.  Ultimately  they 
reasserted  themselves,  and  drove  the  Moors 
out  of  Europe,  but  the  driving  force  was 
exerted  from  three  different  centres,  Galicia, 
Castile,  and  Aragon,  which,  owing  to  the 
configuration  of  the  country,  were  isolated 
from  each  other.  A  political  accident  united 
Castile  and  Aragon,  and  imposed  Castilian 
Spanish  on  a  united  Spain  as  the  official 
language,   but   the   geographical   conditions 


THE  RACES  OF  EUROPE  201 

have  led  to  the  long  retention  of  the  Catalan 
speech,  though  not  of  a  Catalan  nation. 
The  Iberians  who  found  a  refuge  in  the 
mountains  of  Galicia,  at  a  later  date,  formed 
the  nucleus  of  the  Portuguese  nation. 

With  these  preliminary  considerations  we 
may  pass  to  the  discussion  of  what  is  known, 
or  surmised,  as  to  the  different  races  of 
Europe  and  their  origin. 

The  earliest  man  who  has  left  traces  in 
Europe  is  he  of  the  Palaeolithic  Period,  or 
Old  Stone  Age,  a  hunter  and  cave-dweller 
without  domesticated  animals,  whose  traces 
are  especially  found  in  southern  Europe. 
No  traces  of  his  presence  have  yet  been  found 
in  Scandinavia  or  in  Scotland,  where  the 
climatic  conditions  perhaps  made  his  exist- 
ence impossible.  Not  much  is  known  of  this 
early  race,  but  it  seems  to  have  been  long- 
headed, and  was  probably  dark.  It  is  no 
longer  believed  that  there  was  a  complete 
rupture  between  the  culture  of  the  Palaeo- 
lithic period,  with  its  unpolished  stone  imple- 
ments, and  that  of  the  Neolithic  age,  with 
its  polished  implements,  but  the  relations  of 
the  two  remain  somewhat  uncertain.  The 
remains  of  the  Neolithic  period  are  much 
more  extensive  and  enable  us  to  draw  much 


202  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

more  satisfactory  conclusions  as  to  racial 
characters.  We  shall  describe  briefly  some 
of  these  Neolithic  remains  as  they  appear 
in  Great  Britain. 

Before  doing  this,  however,  it  is  necessary 
to  say  a  few  words  about  the  means  of  recog- 
nising different  races  of  men.  The  criterion 
most  employed  is  that  of  head  form,  and 
especially  what  is  known  as  the  cephalic 
index,  that  is,  the  ratio  between  the  breadth 
of  the  skull  between  the  ears  and  its  length 
from  front  to  back.  The  ratio  is  expressed 
as  a  percentage,  the  length  being  taken  as 
100,  and  the  breadth  stated  as  a  fraction  of 
it.  When  the  index  rises  above  80,  the  skull 
is  said  to  be  brachycephalic,  or  rounded; 
when  it  is  below  75,  the  skull  is  long,  or  doli- 
chocephalic. The  Italian  anthropologist, 
Sergi,  adopts  another  classification  of  skulls, 
based  upon  the  shape,  but  this  is  only  a  refine- 
ment of  the  ordinary  distinction  between 
long  and  round  skulls. 

Another  important  character,  which,  like 
the  shape  of  the  skull,  can  be  measured  either 
in  the  living  person  or  in  the  skeleton,  is  the 
height,  which  has  some  racial  significance. 
A  third  character,  of  much  importance,  is 
the   colouring   of   the   skin,   eyes   and   hair. 


THE   RACES  OF  EUROPE  203 

This  can  only  be  inferred  in  the  case  of  pre- 
historic peoples.  Finally,  the  shape  of  the 
features,  especially  of  the  nose,  has  some 
racial  significance. 

In  the  west  of  Great  Britain  generally,  and 
extending  northwards  to  Orkney,  there  occur 
the  burying-places  of  a  Neolithic  people, 
which  have  yielded  abundant  remains,  includ- 
ing skeletons.  The  cairns,  tumuli,  or  barrows 
of  this  people  are  recognised  by  their  elon- 
gated shape,  by  the  fact  that  they  are  cham- 
bered, and  by  the  contained  skeletons,  which 
are  always  those  of  a  dolichocephalic  people. 
"Long  barrows,  long  skulls"  is  an  anthropo- 
logical rule  for  England  and  Scotland,  no  less 
than  for  the  other  parts  of  Europe  in  which 
these  tumuli  occur.  The  skeletons  within 
the  barrows  show  no  marks  of  fire,  so  that 
inhumation  not  cremation  was  practised,  and 
a  very  curious  feature  found  in  Scotland,  in 
Sicily,  in  Egypt  and  elsewhere,  in  tombs 
supposed  to  be  of  similar  age,  is  that  the  body 
is  usually  placed  in  a  doubled-up  position. 
The  position  corresponds  to  the  pre-natal 
position  of  the  human  infant,  and  this  method 
of  burial  is  supposed  to  imply  some  belief  in  a 
future  life — is  a  record  of  a  naive  hope  that 
man  could  "enter  a  second  time  into  hi.* 
mother's  womb  and  be  born  again." 


204  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

Graves  of  this  type,  containing  the  skele- 
tons of  long-headed  men,  believed  to  be  of  the 
race  which  we  have  called  Mediterranean, 
occur  not  only  in  western  Great  Britain,  but 
also  in  France,  in  Scandinavia,  in  Germany, 
in  the  Mediterranean  basin,  and  elsewhere. 
There  seems  reason  to  believe  that  they  prove 
that  in  Neolithic  times  the  Mediterranean 
race  was  widely  distributed,  especially  in  the 
west;  it  seems,  further,  tolerably  certain  that 
Mediterranean  man  himself  was  an  immigrant 
from  the  north  of  Africa,  and  established 
himself  first  in  the  Mediterranean  basin. 

The  members  of  this  race  have  now,  and 
apparently  have  always  had,  the  following 
characters: — The  skull  is  markedly  doli- 
chocephalic, the  skin  tends  to  be  brown,  the 
eyes  and  hair  are  dark,  the  stature  is  medium 
and  the  build  slight,  and  the  nose  is  rather 
broad. 

According  to  Prof.  Sergi  there  are  four 
great  stocks  of  this  race;  of  these,  one 
remained  within  Africa,  and  has  been  known 
under  various  names,  the  ancient  Egyptians, 
the  Libyans,  the  Berbers  being  all  of  this 
stock.  The  other  three  stocks  invaded  Eu- 
rope, entering  by  the  three  natural  routes 
which  present  themselves,   that  is,   by  the 


THE  RACES  OF  EUROPE  205 

three  regions  where  the  sea  is  most  easily 
crossed.  The  most  western  group,  the  Iberi- 
ans, crossed,  as  we  have  seen,  via  Gibraltar, 
and  occupied  the  Iberian  peninsula.  The 
next  group,  the  Ligurians,  found  an  entrance 
into  Europe  via  Sicily,  and  passing  up  into 
Italy  extended  westwards  along  the  Riviera, 
till  they  encountered  the  Iberians  in  southern 
France. 

Finally,  the  third  group,  the  Pelasgians, 
reached  Greece  by  means  of  the  islands  of 
that  part  of  the  Mediterranean.  It  still 
remains  uncertain  whether  an  earlier  migra- 
tion still  had  peopled  Europe  with  Palaeo- 
lithic man,  who,  on  this  theory,  would  belong 
also  to  the  Mediterranean  race,  or  whether 
the  immigrant  African  race  displaced  some 
earlier  unrelated  population.  In  any  case, 
it  is  tolerably  certain  that  the  first  peopling 
of  Europe  on  any  considerable  scale  was 
the  result  of  this  immigration  of  Mediter- 
ranean man. 

He  doubtless  first  established  himself  on 
the  margin  of  the  great  sea,  and  there  became 
thoroughly  suited  to  his  environment.  Later 
he  spread  northwards,  being  no  doubt  espe- 
cially attracted  by  the  relatively  mild  climate 
of  the  west,  by  what  has  been  called  the 


206  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

"winter    gulf    of    warmth"    which    extends 
over  north-western  Europe. 

Whatever  was  the  cause  of  his  northward 
trend,  however,  Mediterranean  man  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  left  long  in  undisturbed 
possession  of  his  acquired  territory.  In  Scot- 
land, in  the  Clyde  valley,  which  is  typical  of 
many  other  parts  of  Europe,  round  barrows 
or  cairns  are  found  side  by  side  with  the  long 
ones.  These  are  of  later  origin,  as  is  shown 
by  the  nature  of  the  pottery,  by  the  occur- 
rence of  ornaments,  and  especially  by  the 
presence  of  bronze  weapons — a  great  advance 
upon  stone.  The  skeletons  in  these  cairns 
mostly  show  marks  of  fire,  suggesting  that 
cremation  was  practised,  and  the  skulls  are 
those  of  a  round-headed  race.  "Round 
barrows  mean  round  skulls"  is  a  second 
anthropological  maxim  for  Britain. 

These  barrows  are  the  first  traces  of  the 
second  great  European  race,  called  Alpine, 
Celtic,  Eurasiatic,  or  Celto-Slavic  by  differ- 
ent anthropologists.  The  members  of  this 
race  are  of  medium  height,  but  are  more 
stoutly  built  than  Mediterranean  man. 
Though  generally  resembling  him  in  the  color- 
ation of  hair  and  eyes,  they  are  lighter  in  tint, 
the  hair  tending  to  be  chestnut-coloured,  and 


THE  RACES  OF  EUROPE  207 

the  eyes  hazel  grey,  instead  of  both  being  very 
dark  as  in  the  former  race.  The  nose,  though 
variable,  is  in  living  types  usually  rather 
broad,  and  the  special  feature  is  of  course  the 
round  head  and  broad  face.  As  one  of  the 
names  given  indicates,  this  race  is  supposed 
by  most  anthropologists  to  have  been  of 
Asiatic  origin. 

Where  the  two  sets  of  barrows  occur  there 
are  indications  that  the  incoming  race  greatly 
influenced  the  culture  of  the  old.  The  use 
of  bronze  must  have  given  its  members  an 
enormous  advantage  in  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence, and  they  seem  to  have  imposed  their 
customs,  burial  and  other,  and  apparently 
also  their  language,  on  the  older  race. 

This  conflict  of  races  which  has  left  its 
traces  in  the  Clyde  valley  apparently  occurred 
in  other  parts  of  Europe.  Everywhere  the 
new  race  imposed  its  language  and  its  customs 
upon  the  old,  and  everywhere  its  appearance 
is  associated  with  a  change  and  a  rise  in  cul- 
ture. It  is  presumed  by  the  majority  that  this 
Alpine  race  brought  with  it  the  use  of  bronze, 
and  was  therefore  at  a  higher  level  than 
Mediterranean  man,  but  Prof.  Sergi  believes 
that  the  appearance  of  bronze  and  of  the  new 
race  simultaneously  was  a  mere  coincidence, 


208  MODERN    GEOGRAPHY 

and  that  the  Mediterranean  race  itself  origi- 
nated the  use  of  metals.  Meantime  there 
is  no  means  of  deciding  this  question,  which 
in  any  case  is  not  of  supreme  importance,  but 
what  seems  clear  is  that  everywhere,  except 
in  the  Mediterranean  basin,  the  new  race 
pressed  the  old  one  hard,  whether  by  its  skill 
in  the  arts  of  peace  or  in  those  of  war  remains 
uncertain.  Even  in  the  Mediterranean  the 
old  languages  went  down  before  that  of 
Alpine  man. 

In  the  Mediterranean  area  the  new-comers 
seized  the  upland  regions,  that  is,  as  we  have 
suggested,  the  regions  of  pasture,  and  ousted 
the  longheads  permanently  from  them.  In 
Spain  and  Portugal,  perhaps  because  of  the 
vicinity  of  the  reservoir  of  the  race  in  North 
Africa,  Mediterranean  man  kept  his  hold, 
and  the  brachycephalic  forms  did  not  succeed 
in  obtaining  much  foothold.  But  they  are 
strongly  represented  in  parts  of  southern 
France.  In  southern  Italy,  in  Sicily,  Corsica 
and  Sardinia  Mediterranean  man  largely 
kept  out  the  intruders,  though  they  appear 
again  on  the  Alpine  slopes  of  the  north  of 
Italy.  But  in  the  eastern  Mediterranean 
the  dark  longheads  are  hard  pressed  and 
have  kept  little  save  the  seaboard  from  the 
broadheads. 


THE  RACES  OF  EUROPE  209 

Outside  the  Mediterranean  area,  the  success 
of  Alpine  man  was  more  checkered,  but  we 
are  met  with  the  difficulty  that  here  a  third 
race  supervened  later,  so  that  existing  con- 
ditions are  not  necessarily  comparable  to 
earlier  conditions. 

At  the  present  time  Alpine  man  occupies 
almost  all  the  upland  and  therefore  relatively 
infertile  regions  of  France,  especially  Savoy 
and  the  Dauphiny,  the  central  uplands,  and 
parts  (not  the  whole)  of  Brittany.  Outliers 
of  this  race  also  occur  in  other  regions,  e.  g. 
in  parts  of  the  Sa6ne  valley,  which  is  not 
infertile.  In  Great  Britain,  despite  their  first 
success,  the  broadlands  have  left  little  trace 
on  the  existing  population.  We  thus  see  the 
absurdity  of  talking  about  British  Celts,  for 
Celts  in  the  true  sense  are  almost  extinct  in 
Britain  though  their  language  remains  and  is 
spoken  by  types  of  Mediterranean  man  as 
well  as  by  others.  In  Scandinavia  Alpine 
man  was  more  successful,  for  he  has  left 
traces  in  various  parts,  especially  on  the  coast 
of  Norway.  Throughout  Belgium  and  in 
Southern  Germany  the  broad-headed  element 
in  the  population  is  very  strong,  while  in 
Austria,  the  Balkan  States  and  Russia  this 
race  predominates  and  is  no  longer  confined 


210  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

to  elevated  or  infertile  regions.  This  in- 
crease in  numbers  and  in  dominance  towards 
the  east  is  one  of  the  facts  which  lead  anthro- 
pologists to  believe  that  Alpine  man  is  of 
Asiatic  origin. 

We  shall  return  to  him  in  a  moment,  but 
meantime  it  is  necessary  to  speak  of  the  third 
element  in  Europe,  the  race  variously  called 
Nordic,  Teutonic,  or  even  Germanic,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  many  Germans  belong  to  the 
Alpine  race.  The  members  of  this  race  are 
remarkable  for  their  tall  stature,  for  their 
long  skulls  and  face,  for  their  blue  eyes  and 
fair  hair,  their  light  complexions,  and  their 
narrow  aquiline  noses.  The  resemblance  in 
skull  form  leads  many  anthropologists  to 
regard  them  as  derived  from  a  common  stock 
with  the  Mediterranean  race,  but  the  race 
seems  to  have  originated  in  Europe.  The 
place  and  date  of  its  origin  are  still  quite  un- 
certain. It  is  possible  that  it  was  produced 
from  an  early  form  of  the  Mediterranean  race 
in  adaptation  to  the  moist  climate  of  western 
Europe.  Ripley  gives  Scandinavia  as  the 
probable  place  of  origin,  but  meantime  there 
can  be  no  certainty. 

What  we  do  know  is  that  this  race  shows 
as  perfect  an  adaptation  to  the  climate  of 


THE   RACES  OF  EUROPE  211 

forest-clad  temperate  Europe  as  Mediter- 
ranean man  does  to  the  dry  climate  of  that 
region.  Just  as  the  border  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean is  the  province  of  Mediterranean  man, 
and  has  been  his  for  countless  ages,  so  north- 
western Europe  is  the  almost  unchallenged 
possession  of  Nordic  man.  Between  the  two, 
along  the  great  wedge  of  uplands,  is  the  land 
of  Alpine  man,  which  widens  to  the  east, 
his  original  home.  Just  as  Mediterranean 
man  in  the  days  of  his  prime  pushed  north 
wherever  conditions  permitted,  so  Nordic  man 
has  pushed  south,  across  the  Alpine  barrier, 
both  in  the  literal  and  anthropological  sense, 
and  has  left  traces  of  his  coming  even  within 
the  territory  of  Mediterranean  man.  Just  as 
the  dark-haired  Welsh  and  the  dark-haired 
strain  of  Scottish  Highlanders  bear  witness  to 
the  old  exploits  of  Mediterranean  man,  so  do 
the  fair-haired,  tall-statured  Lombards  bear 
witness  to  the  former  activity  of  Nordic  man. 
Nevertheless,  the  main  territory  of  the  two 
races   is   widely   separated. 

The  relation  of  these  two  types,  at  least, 
to  their  zones  of  distribution  is  relatively  easy 
to  explain.  Mediterranean  man  is  highly 
susceptible  to  diseases  of  the  breathing-organs 
to  which  the  fair-haired  Nordic  type  is  more 


212  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

resistant.  Here  is  one  possible  explanation 
of  their  command  of  their  respective  habitats, 
and  there  are  many  others.  The  forest- 
dwelling  Nordic  type,  as  Prof.  Penck  points 
out,  must  necessarily  have  had  the  family 
as  the  unit,  for  only  by  dwelling  in  small 
family  groups  can  primitive  man  war  against 
the  forest.  Mediterranean  man,  with  his 
early  use  of  irrigation,  had  necessarily  to 
evolve  a  larger  unit,  for  irrigation  means 
extensive  co-operation,  so  that  political  or- 
ganisations would  arise  early  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean. We  can  hardly  doubt  that  these 
two  facts  had  some  bearing  on  the  survival 
rate  of  the  two  races.  The  Nordic  race  with 
their  strong  family  life,  and  with  their  abun- 
dant pasturage,  had  doubtless  a  relatively 
low  death-rate  among  the  children,  though,  as 
Prof.  Myres  points  out,  the  struggle  in  adult 
life  must  have  been  keen.  In  the  Mediterra- 
nean, as  he  also  notes,  the  dry  summer  means 
difficulties  with  the  water  supply,  difficulties 
in  sanitation,  and  the  risk  of  pestilence,  which, 
with  the  abundant  supply  of  fruit  and  the 
absence  or  scarcity  of  milk,  has  probably 
always  meant  a  very  high  death-rate  among 
the  children.  But  the  fact  that  the  struggle 
for  existence  among  adults  was  much  less  keen 


THE  RACES  OF  EUROPE  213 

than  among  the  forest  folk,  perhaps  prevented 
this  high  infantile  death-rate  from  being  a 
great  handicap.  Once  the  geographical  sur- 
roundings of  the  two  peoples  were  changed 
by  migration,  the  qualities  which  aided  them 
to  survive  in  their  native  habitat  might  be- 
come a  positive  hindrance.  In  brief,  as  two 
types  evolved  in  harmony  with  well-defined 
geographical  conditions,  the  very  perfectness 
of  their  respective  adaptations  would  hinder 
either  from  appropriating  the  territory  of  the 
other,  while  leaving  a  considerable  margin 
for  struggle  on  the  debatable  land  between 
the  two  geographical  regions. 

If  it  seems  at  the  present  day  that  the 
Nordic  race  has  more  than  passed  the  Medi- 
terranean in  the  race  of  life,  we  must  remem- 
ber that  the  fact  that  coal  is  chiefly  found 
in  the  territory  of  the  former,  has  given  it  an 
enormous  economic  advantage  in  recent 
times,  an  advantage  which  it  may  not  be  able 
to  keep. 

The  Alpine  race  presents  a  much  more 
difficult  problem.  We  have  said  nothing  here 
of  the  so-called  Aryan  problem,  because  the 
whole  conception  of  an  Aryan  race  advancing 
from  Asia  with  a  ready-made  culture,  and 
imposing  it  upon  a  barbarian  Europe,  is  some- 


214  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

what  out  of  date,  and  much  that  has  been 
written  on  the  subject  of  the  Aryans  pre- 
ceded in  time  the  disentanglement  of  the 
complex  problems  presented  by  European 
races.  But  with  all  deductions  made,  the 
incoming  Asiatic  race  which  we  have  called 
Alpine  presents  many  curious  problems.  It 
seems  probable  that  the  languages  of  Europe 
are  largely  due  to  the  grafting  of  Alpine  or 
Eurasian  tongues  upon  the  different  tongues 
already  spoken  by  Mediterranean  man.  We 
have  still  in  Britain  a  Celtic  language,  though 
it  is  spoken  by  people  of  Mediterranean 
characters,  and  it  is  an  extraordinary  fact 
that  a  people  should  impose  its  language 
and  culture  upon  another  race,  and  yet  be 
itself  unable  to  keep  its  footing  among  that 
race. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  new-comers, 
in  Britain  at  least,  were  never  more  than  an 
aristocracy,  and  that  they  disappeared  by  the 
mingling  of  their  blood  with  the  indigenous 
people,  after  having  long  dominated  them. 
That  is,  it  was  as  if  we  might  suppose -that 
the  British  population  in  India  was  cut  off 
from  the  mother  country,  and  ultimately 
disappeared  owing  to  intermarriage,  while 
their  language  and  their  customs  remained 


THE  RACES  OF  EUROPE  215 

in  greatly  modified  form  and  replaced  the 
existing  languages  and  customs. 

The  difficulties  in  regard  to  this  hypothesis 
are  twofold.  In  the  first  place,  such  a  hypo- 
thesis of  mingling  seems  inconsistent  with  the 
extraordinary  persistency  which  this  race  has 
manifested  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  where  it 
came  into  contact  with  the  same  races  as  in 
Britain;  and,  second,  the  position  of  the 
Alpine  race  in  western  Europe  generally,  its 
virtual  limitation  to  relatively  infertile  land, 
seems  inconsistent  with  the  notion  that  it  ever 
formed  an  aristocracy,  apart  from  and  above 
the  other  races.  To-day  in  Germany  it  is  so 
far  from  occupying  the  position  of  an  aristoc- 
racy that  it  sometimes  forms  the  lower 
classes  to  a  Nordic  dominant  class,  though 
the  Alpine  race  is  sometimes  stated  to  be 
better  adapted  to  town  life  than  the  Nordic. 

Of  the  three  races,  Mediterranean  man 
seems  to  be  perfectly  adapted  to  a  dry  region, 
with  deficient  pasture,  naturally  clothed  with 
a  drought-resisting  type  of  forest.  As  he 
prospered  he  spread  beyond  his  own  region, 
with  the  result  that  he  reached  a  region 
markedly  different  in  climate  and  vegetation 
from  his  own,  to  which  his  adaptation  was 
never  very  perfect.    Where,  as  in  Ireland  antf 


216  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

western  Great  Britain,  the  conditions  per- 
mitted the  natural  growth  of  some  of  the 
Mediterranean  plants,  there  his  hold  was 
fairly  firm,  elsewhere  it  must  always  have 
been  loose  and  uncertain. 

Into  a  Europe  thus  peopled,  with  probably 
large  vacant  spaces,  came  a  pastoral  type  of 
man  from  Asia,  certainly  a  transporter,  if  not 
an  originator,  of  a  higher  culture,  best  fitted 
for  a  region  of  pasture  land,  but  better  fitted 
than  Mediterranean  man  to  withstand  cold. 
He  filled  the  spaces  which  Mediterranean 
man  could  not  fill,  and  pressed  him  hard  in 
many  places.  Ultimately  the  forest  region  of 
Europe  evolved  its  own  type,  perhaps  from 
some  aberrant  strain  of  Mediterranean  man, 
and  this  type,  perfectly  fitted  to  the  forest 
regions,  conquered  the  north  and  west, 
driving  Alpine  man  up  to  the  hills,  and  largely 
displacing  Mediterranean  man  except  where 
distinctively  Mediterranean  influences  pre- 
vailed. 

To  the  east,  as  the  European  forest  dies 
away  into  the  steppes  of  Asia,  Nordic  man 
can  no  longer  compete  successfully  with 
Alpine  man,  and  diminishes  in  numbers  and 
in  strength. 

Thus  while  in  Germany  the  tendency  is 


THE  RACES  OF  EUROPE  217 

for  the  tall,  fair  longheads  of  the  north  to 
dominate  the  short,  darker  broadheads  of  the 
south,  further  to  the  east  this  same  broad- 
headed  race,  under  the  banner  of  Panslavism, 
strives,  not  unsuccessfully,  to  dominate  the 
longheads  of  Finland  and  elsewhere. 

Thus  below  and  beneath  the  warfare  of  race 
is  the  contrast  of  physical  conditions,  which 
have  produced  the  various  types  of  man,  no 
less  than  of  plants  and  animals,  and  from 
which  man  cannot  fully  emancipate  himself. 

The  New  World  was  first  colonised  by 
Mediterranean  man,  but  later  all  the  Euro- 
pean races  contributed  their  part  to  its 
peopling.  When  we  add  a  strong  negro 
element  in  the  southern  United  States,  a 
remnant  of  the  original  Indian  population, 
and  an  infusion  of  eastern  races,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  mingling  of  blood  which  has  appar- 
ently produced  good  results  in  Europe,  is 
being  carried  out  on  a  much  more  elaborate 
scale  across  the  Atlantic. 

One  other  point  may  be  touched  upon.  We 
have  shown  that  the  nations  of  Europe  are  not 
races  in  the  pure  sense.  But,  at  the  same 
time,  it  may  be  noted  that  in  the  western 
nations  one  or  other  of  the  two  chief  races 
tends  to  predominate  at  the  expense  of  the 
other. 


218  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

Thus  broadly  we  may  say  that  the  antag- 
onism between  the  French  and  German 
nationalities  is  fed  by  the  fact  that  in  race* 
in  culture,  in  tradition,  the  one  is  pre- 
dominantly Mediterranean,  and  the  other 
predominantly  Teutonic.  In  the  Iberian  pen- 
insula, as  we  have  seen,  the  Mediterranean 
strain  enormously  predominates,  while  in  the 
countries  of  the  north-west  the  Teutonic  race 
tends  to  overbalance  the  other. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE    DISTRIBUTION     OP    MINERALS    AND     THE 
LOCALISATION  OF  INDUSTRIES  AND  OF  TOWNS 

The  distribution  of  minerals  over  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  is  much  less  obvious  phe- 
nomenon than  that  of  plants  and  animals, 
but  it  has  always  been  of  great  importance  in 
determining  the  distribution  of  man  and  his 
settlements.  Except  in  the  most  primitive 
communities  man  must  have  tools  and  im- 
plements; probably  never  since  he  became 
man  has  he  been  without  weapons.  The  first 
sign  of  emergence  from  the  rudest  barbarism 
is  the  use  of  metals,  instead  of  stone  or  bone, 
to  construct  these  tools  and  weapons  and 
the  necessity  for  finding  the  metals  best  suited 
to  his  use  at  each  stage  of  civilisation  has 
always  influenced  the  movements  and  settle- 
ments of  man.  The  existence  of  useful  metals 
in   a   particular   area   must   always   attract 

219 


220  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

population  to  that  spot,  and  it  is  obvious  in 
the  case  of  Australia,  of  California,  and  later 
of  Alaska,  how  strong  the  attractive  power  of 
metals  is,  even  when  the  other  conditions  are 
distinctly  unfavourable.  As  metals  have 
always  had  this  attractive  power,  the  study 
of  their  distribution  must  always  be  import- 
ant to  the  geographer. 

We  have  seen  that  the  first  men  whose 
remains  have  been  preserved  in  Europe  used 
only  implements  of  stone,  but  that  at  a  later 
state  bronze  was  used,  and  corresponded  to  a 
marked  rise  in  civilisation,  as  shown  by  the 
improved  pottery,  the  nature  of  the  orna- 
ments used,  and  so  on. 

Now  bronze  is  not  a  metal  but  an  alloy  or 
mixture  of  two  metals,  copper  and  tin.  This 
alloy  is  very  hard,  and  possesses  qualities 
which  make  it  more  valuable  for  weapons  and 
tools  than  the  relatively  soft  metal  copper. 
But  we  can  hardly  suppose  that  the  first 
metal-workers  discovered,  immediately  after 
they  had  learnt  how  to  smelt  metals,  that  a 
mixture  of  metals  was  more  useful  than  a 
pure  one.  In  point  of  fact,  it  is  clear  that  in 
some  places,  at  least,  the  age  of  bronze  was 
preceded  by  a  period  when  developing  man 
used  pure  copper  for  his  implements. 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MINERALS       221 

Our  word  copper  is  derived  from  the  name 
of  the  island  of  Cyprus,  which  is  particularly 
rich  in  copper  ores.  In  this  island  they  were 
smelted  at  a  very  early  date,  the  process 
being  aided  by  two  facts,  first,  that  copper 
ores  are  relatively  easy  to  smelt,  and,  second, 
that  the  necessary  fuel  for  the  process  was 
furnished  by  the  forests  which  formerly  cov- 
ered the  island,  and  which  were  largely  de- 
stroyed by  the  early  smiths. 

For  our  purpose  it  is  quite  unnecessary  to 
discuss  the  difficult  and  debated  question  as 
to  where  the  use  of  copper  and  bronze  origi- 
nated. It  is  sufficient  to  note  that  the  island 
of  Cyprus,  placed  near  early  centres  of  civilis- 
ation seems  to  have  been  the  region  from 
which  a  knowledge  of  the  pure  metal  and  of 
its  more  useful  alloy  radiated  over  the  Medi- 
terranean and  ultimately  over  Europe  gen- 
erally. It  is  more  than  probable  that  the  use 
of  copper  or  of  bronze  spread  faster  than  the 
knowledge  of  the  method  of  producing  either. 
It  is  at  least  clear  that  in  many  cases  the 
Stone  and  Bronze  Ages  co-existed,  suggest- 
ing that  the  new  type  of  implements  was  at 
first  very  difficult  to  obtain.  No  doubt  for 
long  ages  they  occupied  the  position  which 
firearms  long  occupied  among  savage  races, 


222  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

and   which  they  still   occupy  among  those 
most  remote  from  civilisation. 

In  Cyprus  itself  very  few  stone  implements 
occur,  suggesting  that  the  Stone  Age  was  very 
short,  and  rapidly  gave  place  to  a  metal  one. 

We  do  not  know  how  the  discovery  was 
made  that  the  addition  of  tin  improved  cop- 
per for  human  purposes.  Bronzes  of  very 
varying  composition  have  been  found,  in- 
cluding many  which  contain  antimony,  a 
somewhat  rare  metal,  still  employed  in  mak- 
ing many  useful  alloys.  It  is  suggested  that 
the  first  smiths  tried  a  great  number  of  com- 
binations before  they  found  one  which  was 
satisfactory,  and  finally  fixed  upon  tin  as  the 
most  suitable  addition. 

The  next  point  of  interest  is  the  source  of 
the  tin.  This  is  a  question  of  great  interest, 
for  long  after  iron  had  been  used,  and  used 
extensively  in  the  manufacture  of  implements, 
the  demand  for  bronze  continued,  for  the  iron, 
even  of  late  Roman  days,  was  very  costly 
and  probably  very  troublesome  to  make. 
Bronze  also  became  of  importance  in  connec- 
tion with  the  coinage  of  civilised  nations. 

Tin  is  not  a  very  abundant  metal,  and  it  is 
rare  in  the  Mediterranean.  The  deposits 
which  were  utilised   by  the  first  makers  of 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MINERALS     223 

bronze  have  doubtless  completely  disappeared, 
for  from  the  early  days  of  civilisation  the  tin 
deposits  even  of  Far  Britain  were  sought. 

Within  the  Mediterranean  region  at  the 
present  time  only  one  tin  deposit  of  any 
importance  is  known.  This  occurs  in  the 
village  of  Montecatini,  which  is  situated  near 
Volterra  in  Italy,  in  the  ancient  Etruria.  It 
perhaps  played  a  part  in  connection  with  the 
development  of  the  civilisation  of  ancient 
Etruria. 

Outside  of  the  Mediterranean  the  main 
deposits  of  tin  in  Europe  occur,  or  occurred, 
in  three  separate  areas,  which  formed  as  it 
were  three  stages  in  one  journey,  and  whose 
position  certainly  made  them  a  factor  in 
promoting  the  spread  of  Mediterranean  cul- 
ture to  the  north-west. 

These  three  rich  tin-bearing  areas  were: 
(1)  Galicia  in  north-western  Spain,  (2)  the 
south  of  Brittany,  especially  between  the 
estuaries  of  the  Loire  and  the  Vilaine,  a  de- 
posit long  since  exhausted,  and  (3)  the  still- 
important  deposits  of  southern  England,  in 
Cornwall  and  parts  of  Devon,  which  are  be- 
lieved to  have  been  visited  by  the  Phoeni- 
cians. Just  as  the  gold  of  California  brought 
population  and  civilisation  to  the  Far  West 


224  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

of  North  America  long  before  the  natural 
increase  of  eastern  peoples  would  have  led  to 
a  westward  movement,  so  the  rich  tin  deposits 
of  south-western  Britain,  with  the  other  metals 
of  those  favoured  islands,  brought  merchants 
and  navigators  to  what  was  the  Far  West  of 
ancient  Europe. 

The  bold  navigators  who  had  learnt  their 
craft  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea  left  its  basin 
by  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar,  and  visited  succes- 
sively those  masses  of  ancient  rocks  which 
project  out  into  the  ocean,  and  form  the 
western  extremities  of  Spain,  France  and 
Britain.  But  it  was  not  only  the  sea  route 
which  was  utilised,  at  least  in  later  times. 
Perhaps  so  long  ago  as  five  centuries  before 
our  era  a  land  route  was  organised  which 
carried  British  tin  to  Marseilles,  and  thus  to 
the  Mediterranean.  The  great  valley  of  the 
Rhone  renders  such  a  traverse  of  France 
feasible,  and  the  passage  from  the  valley  to 
the  Rhone  to  that  of  the  Loire  or  of  the  Seine 
is  easy.  The  existence  of  a  commerce  in  tin 
thus  ensured  that  France  was  early  and 
deeply  permeated  by  Mediterranean  civilisa- 
tion, for  it  involved  the  existence  of  high 
roads  through  her  land,  at  a  time  when  north- 
ern Europe  generally  was  cut  off  from  the  civ- 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MINERALS     225 

ilisation  of  the  Mediterranean.  There  is  even 
reason  to  believe  that  trade  in  tin  led  to  the 
founding  of  an  early  maritime  power  on  the 
barren  shores  of  Brittany.  The  trade  in  tin 
certainly  did  much  to  open  the  way  for  the 
future  civilisation  of  France. 

Though,  as  we  have  indicated,  bronze  was 
for  long  of  relatively  great  importance,  yet 
the  use  of  iron  dates  back  to  great  antiquity. 
It  seems  to  have  been  a  rare  and  precious 
metal  when  the  Homeric  poems  took  shape, 
and  for  long  afterwards  its  use  was  parial 
and  limited.  The  fact,  however,  that  it  is 
very  readily  destroyed  by  rust  when  exposed 
to  air  and  damp,  makes  it  difficult  to  draw 
any  certain  conclusions  from  its  absence  in 
ancient  remains. 

The  slow  growth  of  the  use  of  iron  must  be 
largely  ascribed  to  the  great  difficulties  in 
smelting  it,  especially  when  it  occurs  in 
impure  forms.  Iron  does  not  occur  in  the 
pure  state,  as  copper  does  to  a  small  extent, 
but  it  is  enormously  abundant,  being  found, 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  in  almost  all  rocks. 
Relatively  pure  ores  are  rare,  most  iron- 
bearing  minerals  containing  a  large  number 
of  impurities,  some  of  which  are  very  diffi- 
cult  to   remove.     Further,   the   process   of 


226  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

smelting  always  requires  much  fuel,  and,  in 
the  case  of  the  more  impure  ores,  remarkable 
skill  and  science.  The  result  was  that  the 
early  smiths  could  only  employ  a  very  high 
grade  of  ore;  all  others  were  useless  to  them. 
Even  with  a  high  grade  of  ore,  they  could 
only  extract  a  relatively  small  amount  of 
the  iron  present. 

A  very  curious  little  proof  of  this  latter 
fact  is  furnished  by  the  Roman  iron  workings 
in  the  Forest  of  Dean  in  Gloucestershire. 
The  refuse  thrown  out  of  the  ancient  fur- 
naces worked  by  the  Romans  here,  was  re- 
smelted  by  the  British  smiths  long  centuries 
afterwards,  and  this  refuse  fed  their  furnaces 
for  a  period  of  between  two  and  three  hun- 
dred years. 

The  next  point  of  interest  in  regard  to  iron 
is  the  source  of  the  necessary  fuel.  At  first 
wood  or  charcoal  was  always  employed,  and 
therefore  iron  could  only  be  smelted  in  the 
vicinity  of  forests.  Thus  the  Forest  of  Dean, 
already  mentioned,  supplied  the  wood  used 
by  the  Romans  in  smelting,  and  the  trees  of 
the  Weald  or  "wood"  of  Sussex  and  Kent 
were  completely  removed  during  the  long 
centuries  when  the  iron  ores  of  that  region 
were  smelted.     The  Forest  of  Arden,  near 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MINERALS     227 

Birmingham,  is  another  region  where  iron 
was  long  smelted  by  the  aid  of  charcoal.  The 
amount  of  fuel  required,  especially  in  the 
early  days,  was  very  great,  and  as  the  forests 
were  cleared  without  any  regard  for  scientific 
forestry,  it  naturally  followed  that  in  many 
districts  the  destruction  of  the  necessary  fuel 
led  to  a  diminution  of  the  industry. 

In  England  coal  was  not  generally  em- 
ployed in  the  smelting  of  iron  until  after  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  long 
before  that  the  British  forests  had  been 
largely  destroyed.  The  result  was  that  the 
British  iron  industry  had  declined,  and  in  the 
early  part  of  that  century  considerably  more 
iron  was  imported  than  was  made  in  Eng- 
land. The  countries  which  at  this  time  were 
specially  favoured  in  connection  with  the  in- 
dustry were  those  in  which  pure  iron  ores  co- 
existed with  extensive  forests.  This  condi- 
tion occurred  especially  in  Germany,  where 
the  iron  deposits  formerly  worked  were  those 
of  the  upland  regions  which  have  kept  their 
forests  till  this  day.  Thus  the  wood  and  the 
ores  of  the  Harz  Mountains  and  of  the  Erzge- 
birge,  or  Iron  Mountains,  were  of  great  im- 
portance before  the  industrial  revolution,  and 
up  till  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century 


228  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

the  German  iron  industry  was  more  import- 
ant than  the  British. 

The  replacement  of  charcoal  by  coal  led  to 
a  great  diminution  of  the  cost  of  production, 
and  permitted  the  use  of  low-grade  ores,  but 
it  was  not  in  itself  a  great  improvement. 
Charcoal  is  a  singularly  pure  form  of  carbon, 
and  its  use  as  the  reducing  agent  gives  a  high 
quality  of  iron.  Coal,  on  the  other  hand, 
often  contains  impurities  which  spoil  the 
iron,  and  have  to  be  provided  against  in 
various  ways.  Not  all  coal,  indeed,  is  suit- 
able for  iron  smelting.  The  result  is  that 
where  charcoal  can  still  be  obtained  cheaply, 
as  in  the  Scandinavian  countries  and  in  parts 
of  Russia,  it  is  still  used  in  smelting,  and  the 
iron  so  produced  is  particularly  valuable. 

The  original  demand  for  iron,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  very  small,  and  even  down  to  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  remained 
insignificant.  But  with  the  use  of  machinery, 
the  spread  of  railways,  the  replacement  of 
wood  by  iron  in  shipbuilding  and  for  the 
framework  of  buildings,  etc.,  the  demand  in 
all  civilised  communities  has  become  enor- 
mous, has  become  too  great  to  permit  of  any 
forests  supplying  the  necessary  fuel.  With 
the  far  increased  demand  has  come  an  elabora- 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MINERALS     229 

tion  of  methods  which  means  very  costly  in- 
stallations and  much  skill  and  training  among 
the  workers. 

From  the  time  of  the  industrial  revolution 
till  the  present,  then,  a  well-developed  iron 
industry  has  demanded  the  following: — fuel, 
usually  furnished  by  coal;  an  abundant  sup- 
ply of  the  ore,  either  furnished  locally  or 
easily  obtained  by  water  carriage,  ores  being 
so  bulky  that  land  carriage  is  rarely  profit- 
able; certain  accessaries,  notedly  limestone 
to  serve  as  a  flux,  and  ganister,  a  kind  of 
sandstone  used  to  form  a  lining  in  parts  of 
the  apparatus  used;  capital,  necessary  for  the 
purchase  and  fitting  up  of  the  costly  plant; 
the  tradition  and  skill  which  come  from  the 
long  practice  of  the  industry. 

The  significance  of  these  various  neces- 
saries may  perhaps  be  realised  by  a  few 
examples.  Let  us  consider  first  the  Mediter- 
ranean area.  We  have  seen  that  it  was  civil- 
ised from  a  very  early  date,  that  a  consider- 
able part  at  least  of  that  civilisation  was 
indigenous,  and  that  its  early  smiths  showed 
no  lack  of  skill.  But  with  the  advent  of  the 
age  of  iron  its  natural  handicap  became  obvi- 
ous. The  forests  of  the  region  never  had  the 
luxuriance  of  those  further  north,  and  must 


2S0  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

have  been  early  destroyed,  and  coal  is  virtu- 
ally absent.  Iron  ores  are  present  and  are 
widely  distributed;  some,  like  those  of  Elba 
and  of  northern  Spain,  which  is  outside  the 
area,  are  even  rich;  but  the  absence  of  fuel  is 
a  terrible  handicap,  and  to  its  absence  we 
must  ascribe  the  present  poverty  and  back- 
wardness of  Mediterranean  countries. 

It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  electricity 
is  coming  to  be  used  in  smelting,  and  espe- 
cially for  making  particular  kinds  of  steel, 
used  for  special  purposes.  To  generate  this 
electricity  water  power  is  being  used,  and  the 
appearance  of  small  factories  in  the  valleys 
of  the  Alpine  border,  both  in  France  and 
Italy,  perhaps  marks  the  beginning  of  a 
change  which  will  restore  to  some  of  the 
Mediterranean  countries  their  ancient  glory. 

These  small  factories  are  not  only  employed 
in  manufacturing  high-grade  steel,  but  also 
in  making  nitrogenous  manure  from  the  air, 
and  in  other  processes.  In  the  valleys  in 
which  they  occur  the  inhabitants  are  for- 
saking their  phylloxera-infested  vineyards  for 
the  factories,  and  the  association  of  the 
neglected  land  with  the  busy  factories  offers 
a  very  curious  spectacle,  and  suggests  that 
the  twentieth  century  may  see  great  changes 
in  the  present  distribution  of  population. 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MINERALS    231 

Meantime  this  distribution  has  been  al- 
most everywhere  in  western  Europe  enor- 
mously influenced  by  the  distribution  of  coal. 
Everywhere  the  coal  has  had  an  attractive 
influence,  dragging  population,  wealth,  and 
intelligence  from  the  agricultural  regions, 
even  the  fertile  regions,  to  the  vicinity  of  the 
coal  measures,  where  alone  great  industries 
can  be  profitably  established. 

In  Great  Britain,  where  the  coal-bearing 
beds  are  not  only  numerous,  but  in  some 
instances  crop  out  at  the  surface,  coal  seems 
to  have  been  worked  earlier  than  elsewhere 
in  Europe.  To  its  earlier  utilisation  of  coal 
on  a  large  scale  Britain  owes  its  long  lead  in 
the  struggle  for  industrial  supremacy,  and  we 
thus  find  the  effect  of  coal  upon  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  population  illustrated  in  a  more 
striking  way  here  than  elsewhere.  Further, 
Great  Britain  is  especially  fortunate  in  that 
iron  usually  occurs  in  close  proximity  to 
coal,  and  that  the  other  necessities  for  an 
iron  industry  are  easily  obtainable.  Its  posi- 
tion, sheltered  by  Ireland,  gives  it  good  ports, 
and  it  is  rich  in  other  minerals  as  well  as  in 
iron  ores  and  coal. 

The  nature  of  the  change  introduced  by 
the  great  industrial  revolution  may  be  real- 


232  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

ised,  for  example,  by  thinking  of  the  great 
cathedrals  of  England,  and  noting  how  in- 
significant the  towns  in  which  they  are  placed 
are  at  the  present  day  when  compared  with 
the  great  centres  which  have  sprung  up  near 
the  coalfields.  Yet  the  very  existence  of 
these  magnificent  monuments  of  the  past 
means  that  in  the  old  days  the  towns  in 
which  they  were  placed  were  not  only  centres 
of  population  and  of  wealth,  but  had  also 
prestige  enough  to  draw  men's  eyes  towards 
them.  Their  very  peace  and  cleanliness  to- 
day means  that  the  life  of  the  nation  is  eddy- 
ing round  other  centres.  The  emotions  which 
found  expression  in  their  lofty  spires  now  seek 
another  outlet  in  the  magnificent  municipal 
buildings,  the  art  galleries,  the  hospitals,  the 
universities  and  schools  of  the  industrial 
centres. 

The  same  lesson  may  be  learnt  by  consider- 
ing the  county  towns  of  some  of  the  counties 
where  the  change  wrought  by  the  industrial 
revolution  has  been  greatest.  What  do  the 
towns  of  Alnwick,  Durham,  York,  Lancaster, 
Appleby,  Carlisle  now  signify  beside  the  great 
towns  in  Yorkshire  and  Lancashire,  which 
depend  for  their  existence  upon  the  coalfields? 

The  great  development  of  North  America 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MINERALS    233 

is  similarly  the  product  of  the  age  of  iron  and 
coal,  and  therefore  here  also  population  tends 
to  congregate  round  mineralised  regions,  and 
to  be  sucked  away  from  the  early  centres, 
which  were  determined  by  other  causes. 

In  brief  we  say  that  it  is  true  generally  of 
the  civilised  world  that  the  attraction  of  the 
towns,  of  which  we  hear  so  much,  is  in  reality 
the  attraction  of  minerals,  especially  of  coal 
and  iron.  This  attractive  power  of  minerals 
is  no  new  thing.  When  the  men  armed  with 
bronze  or  copper  weapons  and  tools  con- 
quered those  with  stone  implements,  when 
iron  was  found  to  be  better  than  all  three,  then 
first  began  that  long  process  which  now  acts 
by  sucking  the  countryman  into  the  large 
industrial  towns. 

When  coal  became  supremely  important 
the  small  industries,  previously  scattered  over 
the  localities  where  some  specially  favourable 
conditions  presented  themselves,  began  to 
concentrate  near  the  coalfields.  With  the 
cheap  power  they  developed  out  of  all  propor- 
tion to  their  old  state,  and  new  industries 
were  added  to  the  old.  Thus  began  that 
process  which  made  the  great  manufacturing 
nations  seek  markets  far  beyond  their  own 
shores,  and  produce  far  in  excess  of  their  own 


234  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

needs.  This,  again,  has  led  to  enormous 
improvements  in  the  means  of  communica- 
tion. It  must  itself,  however,  be  necessarily 
a  more  or  less  temporary  phenomenon,  to  be 
replaced  sooner  or  later  by  other  conditions, 
as  the  new  nations  become  manufacturers  in 
their  turn,  and  cease  to  offer  unlimited  mar- 
kets to  the  old. 

In  regard  to  the  localisation  of  industries, 
it  is  interesting  to  note  that  though  the 
industries  are  attracted  towards  coal,  local 
conditions  generally  determine  which  industry 
or  industries  shall  prosper  round  a  particular 
coalfield.  The  moist  climate  of  Lancashire, 
with  the  relative  proximity  of  the  cotton 
supplies  of  the  Southern  United  States,  has 
determined  the  cotton  industry  of  Lancashire* 
Once  established  the  advantages  associated 
with  a  going  concern  make  it  very  difficult 
for  other  districts  to  capture  trade,  even  when 
they  have  greater  natural  advantages,  e.  g. 
the  Southern  States  themselves  are  now 
manufacturing  areas,  but  cannot  compete  on 
equal  terms  with  Lancashire. 

It  is  indeed  remarkable  that  the  proximity 
of  raw  material,  except  in  cases  when  this  is 
very  bulky,  as  with  ores,  seems  often  to  be  of 
minor    importance    in    localising    industries. 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MINERALS    235 

Thus,  though  Belfast  may  be  said  to  owe  its 
linen  industry  primarily  to  local  supplies  of 
flax,  it  is  noticeable  that  the  local  supply  is 
very  limited,  and  several  towns  on  the  east 
coast  of  Scotland,  as  Dunfermline,  Montrose, 
Arbroath,  etc.,  have  a  flourishing  linen  in- 
dustry maintained  entirely  by  imported  raw 
material.  A  whole  host  of  facts  of  this  kind 
emphasise  the  importance  of  power  in  the  case 
of  a  modern  industry,  as  contrasted  with  the 
supreme  importance  of  abundant  raw  material 
in  the  old  days  when  man  himself  chiefly 
supplied  the  motive  force. 

In  other  words,  modern  industry  has  been 
very  closely  associated  with  improved  means 
of  communication,  which  alone  make  it 
possible  to  carry  cheap  raw  material  over 
great  distances,  without  excessive  expense 
for  freight.  The  study  of  the  development 
of  the  means  of  communication  is  therefore 
a  problem  well  worth  the  attention  of  the 
geographer,  and  is  one  which  has  many 
interesting  facts  to  disclose. 

Man  himself  is  an  animal  relatively  ill- 
adapted  for  continuous  rapid  movement  or 
for  the  transport  of  goods.  As  a  transport 
animal  he  is  the  costliest  and  most  inefficient 
known,  and  were  it  not  for  the  intelligence 


236  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

which  enabled  him  first  to  utilise  other 
animals  for  his  own  purposes,  and  later  to  find 
mechanical  means,  the  progress  of  civilisation 
would  have  been  impossible.  Progress  in 
Africa  has  been  greatly  checked  by  the  fact 
that  over  a  large  area  man  is  the  only  trans- 
port animal  available,  a  fact  which  brings  in 
its  train  the  slave  trade,  and  many  other 
serious  evils. 

Except  in  certain  special  localities  the 
surface  of  the  earth  is  so  uneven  that  pro- 
gression, especially  for  a  loaded  man  or  ani- 
mal, is  very  difficult  except  on  a  prepared 
surface.  On  the  other  hand,  the  diminution 
of  friction  over  a  water  surface  makes  trans- 
port over  it  relatively  easy.  It  has  been 
pointed  out  that,  as  a  result  of  this  fact,  the 
great  civilisations  have  developed  in  regions 
where  water  transport  was  possible,  and  have 
involved  the  progressive  utilisation  of  larger 
and  larger  masses  of  water. 

The  first  civilisations  developed  in  river 
valleys,  where  water  transport  in  one  direction 
at  least  is  very  easy.  The  next  stage  was 
that  which  saw  man  settled  on  the  shores  of 
the  great  inland  sea,  and  witnessed  his  gradual 
acquisition  of  greater  and  greater  skill  in 
navigation.     As  we  have  seen,  he  was  soon 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MINERALS    237 

not  content  with  that  sea  alone,  but  launched 
out  into  the  open,  and,  hugging  the  coastline, 
found  his  way  to  far  Britain. 

Only  at  a  very  much  later  date,  however, 
did  he  conquer  the  vast  Atlantic  outside, 
which,  as  Prof.  Myres  points  out,  has  now 
become  a  mere  inland  sea  in  its  turn,  when 
compared  with  the  greater  oceans  beyond. 
To  this  day,  however,  the  part  which  water 
transport  plays  in  human  life  is  reflected  in 
the  way  in  which  the  denser  masses  of  man- 
kind cluster  round  the  shores  of  the  seas  and 
oceans,  as  any  map  of  the  distribution  of 
population  will  show. 

In  water  transport  the  method  of  propelling 
the  vessel  employed  is  of  great  importance. 
In  river  navigation  it  is  natural  to  allow  the 
boat  to  drift  with  the  current,  and  the  use  of 
a  pole  to  steer  with  would  naturally  suggest 
its  use  as  a  paddle  or  oar  in  order  to  move 
against  the  current.  In  North  America  up 
till  the  appearance  of  the  white  man,  the 
aborigines  had  not  got  past  the  paddle  stage, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  were  very  skilful 
navigators,  and  had  a  considerable  variety  of 
vessels. 

The  next  stage  is  of  course  the  sail,  used  by 
most  races  who  venture  on  open  water,  as 


238  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

contrasted  with  flowing  streams  and  rivers. 
Although  before  its  virtual  replacement  by 
steam,  the  civilised  races  had  carried  the 
development  of  the  sail  to  a  very  high  pitch, 
yet  the  difficulties  associated  with  it  militated 
against  bold  navigation,  more  especially  in 
the  early  days  when  there  was  no  science  of 
meteorology.  Thus  it  has  been  pointed  out 
that  the  reason  why  the  effective  discovery  of 
America  was  delayed  so  long  was  largely 
due  to  two  meteorological  facts.  The  first 
of  these  is  that  to  the  north,  the  place  where 
the  crossing  is  narrowest,  the  ice  which 
streams  down  the  west  coast  of  Greenland, 
and  even  to  this  day  presents  difficulties  to 
navigation  off  the  coasts  of  Newfoundland, 
formed  an  effective  barrier  to  early  navigators. 
To  the  south  the  great  difficulty  was  the  con- 
stant north-east  trade  wind.  What  ship  dare 
set  out  towards  the  unknown  blown  by  a 
constant  wind  against  which  she  could  not 
return  home  again?  To  Columbus  first,  says 
Mr.  Mackinder,  came  the  brilliant  inspiration 
that,  while  travelling  outwards  with  the  trade, 
it  would  be  possible  to  return  with  the  wester- 
ly breezes  of  more  northern  latitudes. 

When,    later,    the    sail    was    functionally 
replaced   by   steam,   man   became   virtually 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MINERALS     239 

independent  of  the  wind,  and  only  the  name 
of  trade  wind  remains  to  carry  us  back  to  the 
period  when  the  ocean  breezes  determined  his 
movements  and  his  commerce. 

Turning  now  to  the  surface  of  the  land,  we 
may  note  that  regions  which  are  snow-covered 
in  winter  offer  special  facilities  for  rapid 
locomotion.  In  the  northern  part  of  North 
America,  both  in  the  tundra  and  the  forest 
region,  the  aborigines  used  both  snow-shoes 
and  sledges.  The  Eskimos  to  the  north  use 
dogs  to  draw  their  heavy  sledges,  but  to  the 
south  the  Indians  used  a  lighter  form  of 
sledge,  which  was  dragged  by  women,  and 
therefore  represents  a  much  more  primitive 
form  of  transport.  Even  down  to  the  present 
time  the  conditions  in  Arctic  America  are 
such  that  transport  facilities  are  very  much 
greater  in  winter  than  in  summer,  except  in 
regions  close  to  navigable  rivers. 

Snow-sledges  and  snow-shoes  of  course 
occur  also  on  the  European  side  of  the  Atlan- 
tic to  the  north,  but  the  domesticated  reindeer 
replaces  the  dog  in  Lapland  as  the  means  of 
traction,  though  dogs  are  used  in  other  parts 
of  the  tundra  region  of  the  old  world. 

Apart  from  snow-covered  regions  deserts 
afford  another  example  of  areas  in  which  the 


240  MODERN   GEOGRAPHY 

surface  is  frequently  so  uniform  that  friction 
is  greatly  reduced,  and  rapid  movement  is 
possible  without  specially  prepared  tracks. 
In  the  Sahara,  for  example,  which  is  far  from 
being  the  waste  of  sand  which  is  popularly 
imagined,  there  are  great  areas  of  almost  level 
surface,  where  "the  soil  is  firm  and  elastic, 
strewn  with  gravel,  and  like  a  garden  walk." 
In  Algiers  it  is  possible  to  drive  in  high  dog- 
carts over  the  plateau  region  in  any  direction, 
regardless  of  roads,  and  in  parts  of  the  North 
American  desert  the  same  thing  is  true.  It 
has  been  suggested,  indeed,  that  wheeled 
vehicles  were  invented  by  races  living  near 
desert  regions,  and  that  the  invention  thus 
preceded  the  making  of  roads. 

In  the  general  case,  however,  rapid  move- 
ment is  bound  up  with  the  existence  of  roads 
or  tracks.  In  parts  of  North  America, 
notably  in  the  region  south  and  east  of  the 
Great  Lakes,  where  the  rivers  are  generally 
unsuitable  for  navigation  by  very  primitive 
forms  of  boats,  the  original  Indian  inhabitants 
mostly  moved  by  means  of  "trails"  through 
the  woods.  These  trails  were  the  lines  of 
migration  of  the  larger  mammals,  especially 
of  the  bison,  and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that 
the  roads  made  later  by  the  white  immigrants 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MINERALS    241 

sometimes  followed  these  old  trails,  which 
proved  to  be  the  most  convenient  routes. 
This  suggests  one  method  in  which  roads  and 
paths  might  originate,  but  the  Indian  trails, 
like  the  African  negroes'  paths  through  the 
forest,  were  excessively  narrow  and  incon- 
venient. 

Another  stage  in  road  evolution  is  well 
illustrated  in  many  mountain  regions,  i.e.  in 
the  less-frequented  parts  of  the  Alps.  Here 
the  mountains  are  crossed  by  narrow  tracks, 
which  die  away  at  intervals  and  then  re- 
appear. They  are  chiefly  used  by  the  herds- 
men and  cattle,  during  the  periodical  migra- 
tions to  the  higher  pastures,  and  this  fact 
gives  rise  to  certain  peculiarities.  Where  the 
region  traversed  is  very  steep  the  path  is 
usually  well  marked,  and  there  may  be  even 
attempts  to  improve  difficult  parts  so  as  to 
render  it  more  practicable.  When  the  ground 
becomes  more  level  the  path  dies  away,  or 
divides  up  into  a  multitude  of  minor  tracks. 
The  reason  is  obvious.  In  the  steep  regions 
the  cows  must  keep  together,  and  their  con- 
stant journeyings  render  the  road  well  marked. 
It  must  also  be  easy  enough  to  permit  of  the 
passage  of  the  animals,  whose  agility  has  its 
limits.    Where  the  ground  is  level  grass  usu- 


242  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

ally  grows,  and  here  the  cattle  spread  out  in 
all  directions  to  feed,  and  the  path  naturally 
dies  away.  It  may  be  marked  on  the  map  as 
going  on  to  cross  a  col  and  so  reach  another 
valley,  but  as  the  number  of  persons  making 
the  traverse  is  likely  to  be  small,  the  track  is 
badly  marked,  as  many  a  tourist  has  found 
to  his  cost. 

From  such  tracks,  which  are  little  more 
than  aids  in  crossing  specially  difficult  areas, 
to  the  well-made  roads  which  traverse  the 
civilised  countries  of  the  world  the  gap  is 
great,  for,  though  the  Romans  made  magnifi- 
cent roads,  after  their  time  there  was  a  rapid 
decay  in  the  art,  and  the  well-kept  roads  of  the 
western  countries  of  Europe  are  things  but  of 
yesterday. 

With  the  development  of  tracks  and  roads, 
as  distinct  from  a  mere  animal  trail  through 
the  bush,  there  comes  the  possibility  of  using 
pack-animals  and  wheeled  vehicles  for  trans- 
port. The  two  do  not  necessarily  occur 
together.  Thus  in  China  and  Japan  wheeled 
vehicles  are  drawn  by  human  beings,  though 
in  China  the  wheelbarrows  drawn  by  human 
porters  have  also  sails  to  aid  their  pro- 
pulsion. 

The   use   of   animals,    whether   as   pack- 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MINERALS     243 

animals  or  for  traction,  means  a  relatively 
high  degree  of  civilisation,  and  means  also  a 
food  supply  normally  more  than  enough  for 
the  human  members  of  the  community.  In 
many  parts  of  tropical  Africa,  despite  the 
tropical  luxuriance  of  many  of  the  food  plants, 
and  the  absence  of  winter,  there  is  practically 
no  food  reserve,  and  the  normal  condition  is 
that  the  whole  group  is  within  measurable 
reach  of  starvation,  should  any  one  of  a  whole 
series  of  probable  or  possible  accidents  happen 
to  the  plantations.  Under  such  conditions 
large  domestic  animals,  requiring  great  quan- 
tities of  food,  cannot  be  kept. 

Again,  where  the  population  is  dense,  and 
all  the  land  is  required  to  grow  food  for  man, 
it  is  not  possible  to  set  aside  regions  for  the 
pasturage  of  domestic  animals,  whose  num- 
bers must  necessarily  then  be  small.  This  is 
true  of  China  and  Japan,  where  domestic 
hoofed  animals  are  few  in  number.  The  con- 
trary condition  is  of  course  seen  in  new  coun- 
tries, like  Australia  and  the  Argentine,  where 
there  are  far  fewer  men  than  sheep  and  cattle. 
The  United  States  is  beginning  to  pass  from 
this  condition,  and  there  have  been  pub- 
lished already  warnings  to  the  community 
that  it  cannot  go  on  giving  up  much  of  its 


244  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

fertile  land  to  the  growth  of  crops  for  its 
domestic  animals,  instead  of  for  its  citizens 
directly. 

Of  the  domestic  animals  which  have  assist- 
ed man  in  the  work  of  transport  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  the  horse  is  by  far  the  most 
valuable.  It  is  the  strongest,  the  swiftest, 
and  the  best  fisted  for  man's  purposes.  The 
camel,  of  which  so  much  has  been  written,  is 
in  point  of  fact  a  poor  substitute  for  the  more 
valuable  animal,  rendered  necessary  by  desert 
conditions.  Among  the  other  animals  which 
have  played  their  part  as  beasts  of  burden  or 
of  traction  are  many  kinds  of  ox,  including 
the  yak  of  Tibet;  the  llama  of  South  Amer- 
ica; the  elephant;  the  reindeer;  the  dog;  and 
the  animals  which  rank  as  horses  to  the  zoolo- 
gist though  not  to  the  owner — that  is  the  ass 
and  the  mule. 

Just  as  the  use  of  beasts  of  burden  is  an 
enormous  improvement  upon  human  porters, 
and  that  of  wheeled  vehicles  upon  beasts  of 
burden,  so  is  the  use  of  steam  an  enormous 
improvement  upon  wheeled  vehicles  drawn 
by  animals.  Railways  have  practically  rev- 
olutionised the  problem  of  land  transport, 
though  their  cost,  especially  in  countries  of 
marked  relief,  is  a  great  drawback  to  their 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MINERALS    245 

universal  use.  The  last  few  years  have  seen 
in  the  development  of  motor-driven  vehicles  a 
new  change,  which  has  given  back  to  the  roads 
their  old  importance,  and  which  will  probably 
in  the  future  greatly  aid  the  development  of 
new  countries,  and  take  from  the  railways 
some  of  their  importance.  It  is  too  soon  yet 
to  say  whether  the  last  development  of  means 
of  transport,  the  aeroplane,  is  destined  to 
affect  greatly  man's  movements  and  methods 
of  exchanging  commodities. 

In  connection  with  means  of  communica- 
tion a  few  words  must  be  said  about  towns  and 
their  position,  a  subject  in  which  the  "new 
geography"  has  been  greatly  interested. 
In  this  chapter  we  have  assumed  that  the 
progress  of  civilisation  means,  and  has  always 
meant,  an  increasing  desire  on  the  part  of 
man  for  freedom  of  movement,  and  an 
increasing  number  of  wants,  which  have  led  in 
their  turn  to  an  increasing  desire  for  the  ex- 
change of  commodities.  The  desire  to  pos- 
sess efficient  tools  and  weapons  first  attracted 
him,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  localities  where 
useful  minerals  occurred.  The  new  powers 
so  obtained  increased  his  desires,  and  also  his 
mobility,  and  tended  to  make  him  cluster 
round  the  spots  where  his  new  desires  could 


246  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

best  be  gratified.  At  a  very  early  stage  the 
desire  to  exchange  commodities  must  have 
led  to  the  founding  of  towns,  whose  number 
and  size  have  increased  with  the  passage  of 
time. 

Of  the  various  causes  which  have  led  to  the 
founding  of  towns  at  certain  spots,  some  are 
obvious.  That  which  has  always  attracted 
most  attention  perhaps  is  the  fortress  town, 
placed  on  some  rocky  peak,  and  commanding 
a  well-marked  route.  But  though  such  towns 
are  imposing,  and  seem  easily  explained,  it  is 
obvious  that  at  no  stage  of  his  history  has 
warfare  been  man's  chronic  state.  Even  at 
the  worst  period,  if  there  had  been  no  busy 
group  of  traders  at  the  foot  of  the  fortress- 
crowned  rock,  its  significance  could  only  have 
been  trifling,  and  almost  all  fortress  towns 
show,  in  the  proximity  of  another  agglomera- 
tion more  suited  to  normal  human  activities, 
that  the  fortress  itself  was  always  rather 
spectacular  than  significant.  Edinburgh,  with 
the  old  city  sloping  down  to  the  plain  from 
the  great  rock,  Carcassonne  with  the  real  city 
some  distance  from  the  theatrical  erection  on 
the  hill,  are  two  examples  which  illustrate  this 
fact. 

One  or  two  of  the  chief  economic  causes  of 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MINERALS    247 

towns  may  be  noted.  They  tend  to  occur 
where  there  is  a  "break  of  bulk"  in  goods 
being  carried  from  one  region  to  another. 
Such  break  of  bulk  now  takes  place  at  the 
great  ports  where  the  liners  unload,  but  in  the 
old  days  the  small  ships  came  up  the  rivers 
with  the  tide,  and  towns  tended  to  occur  at 
the  tidal  limit,  as,  e.g.  at  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
Towns  tend  also  to  occur  near  natural  ob- 
stacles to  easy  transport.  Thus  we  have  in 
England  a  great  number  of  "bridge  towns," 
placed  at  the  point  where  an  important  river 
was  easily  bridged  or  forded,  and  thus  where 
co-operative  effort  was  necessary  to  smooth 
over  an  obstacle.  Towns  tend  to  occur  also 
where  two  regions  of  different  natural  prod- 
ucts meet,  for  here  the  inhabitants  of  the  two 
regions  meet  for  the  purpose  of  exchange  of 
goods.  Milan,  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps  and  yet 
in  the  plain,  is  a  good  example,  for  the 
products  of  the  plains  are  not  those  of  the 
mountains. 

Many  cities  owe  their  origin  and  their  fame 
to  some  event,  often  some  religious  associa- 
tion which  draws  great  numbers  of  pilgrims 
and  others.  It  is  often  doubtful,  however,  to 
what  extent  the  supposed  cause  is  the  real 
cause  of  the  city's  importance.     Not  every 


248  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

saint  founds  a  city,  not  every  holy  city  keeps 
its  fame,  and  in  the  struggle  for  existence 
those  cities  will  persist  whose  natural  advan- 
tages are  greatest. 

Another  very  important  cause  of  cities  is  a 
junction  of  routes,  for  this  means  that  many 
different  types  of  merchandise  will  pass  this 
way,  and  will  give  abundant  raw  material  for 
many  minor  industries.  London  is  a  good 
example  of  a  town  upon  which  many  routes 
converge,  these  being  both  land  routes  and 
water  routes. 

Even  these  few  examples  may  serve  to 
suggest  the  point  of  view  from  which  the 
modern  geographer  regards  towns,  and  to 
illustrate  the  fact  that  in  this  as  in  other 
branches  of  his  subject  his  interest  is  in  the 
study  of  causes  and  of  interrelations. 


NOTES  ON  BOOKS 

Most  of  the  subjects  which  have  been  treated  in  this 
book  fall  under  the  heading  of  physical  geography,  and 
therefore  we  may  begin  these  notes  by  recommending  two 
large  works  of  reference  on  this  subject.  Salisbury's 
Physiography  (New  York:  Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  1907,  $3.50 
net)  is  the  most  comprehensive  work  on  the  subject  in 
English.  In  French  there  is  an  admirable  book  by  E.  de 
Martonne,  Traite  de  Geographie  Physique  (Paris:  Armand 
Colin,  1909,  price  22  fr.),  to  be  especially  recommended 
for  its  beautiful  plates  and  diagrams,  and  for  its  copious 
references. 

For  the  subjects  treated  in  the  individual  chapters  the 
following,  among  others,  may  be  consulted.  Suess's  book 
translated  as  The  Face  of  the  Earth(  Oxford:  Clarendon 
Press,  still  in  course  of  publication,  price  £4  net)  is  the 
classical  book  on  earth  structure  and  relief,  and  has  stimu- 
lated research  enormously,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  read.  For 
climatology  the  classical  book  is  Hann's  Handbuch,  of 
which  the  general  part  has  been  translated  by  Ward  as 
Handbook  of  Climatology  (New  York:  The  Macmillan  Co., 
1903.  price  12s.  6d.).  For  plant  geography  reference 
should  be  made  to  Schimper's  Plant  Geography,  trans- 
lated by  Fisher  (Oxford:  Clarendon  Press,  1903,  price  42s. 
net),  which  is  again  the  classical  treatise,  and  the  basis  of 
most  of  the  later  work.  For  the  races  of  Europe  we  have 
in  W.  Z.  Ripley's  Races  of  Europe  (London:  Kegan  Paul, 
Trench,  Triibner  &  Co.,  1900,  price  18s.  net)  a  most 
interesting  book,  not  difficult  and  full  of  most  instructive 
diagrams.  Another  aspect  of  the  same  subject  is  treated 
in  Sergi's  The  Mediterranean  Race  (Contemporary  Science 
Series,  London:  Walter  Scott,  1901,  price  6s.),  but  this  is 
very  controversial  in  tone.  For  the  work  of  ice,  the  most 
important  book  is  Die  Alpen  im  Eiszeitalter  by  A.  Penck 
and  G.  Bruckner  (Leipzig:  Tauchnitz,  1909,  price  55 
marks),  but  the  line  of  reasoning  followed  in  it  does  not 
convince  all  geographers,  and  the  subject  is  still  fiercely 
debated. 

Turning  now  to  more  general  aspects  of  the  subject  we 
have  in  The  International  Geography,  edited  by  H.  R.  Mill, 
and  written  by  many  authors  (now  published  by  Mac- 
millan, London — new  edition  1907,  price  12s.  net;  also 
published  in  parts  for  school  use),  a  most  comprehensive 
and  authoritative  work,  which  includes  the  whole  globe 
in  its  survey,  and  has  also  general  chapters  on  various 
aspects  of  geography.  It  is,  however,  a  difficult  book, 
249 


250  NOTES  ON  BOOKS 

intended  for  study  rather  than  for  general  reading,  and 
is  very  much  condensed.  A  book  which,  though  dealing 
only  with  a  very  limited  region,  yet  contrives  in  discussing 
that  area  to  give  the  essentials  of  modem  geographical 
science,  is  Mackinder's  Britain  and  the  British  Seas  (second 
edition.     1907.     Oxford:  Clarendon  Press,  price  7s.  6d). 

It  should  be  in  all  geographical  libraries. 

As  commercial  geography  is  one  of  the  sides  from  which 
geography  appeals  most  strongly  to  the  general  reader, 
we  may  note  that  the  classic  is  G.  G.  Chisholm's  Handbook 
of  Commercial  Geography  (New  York:  Longmans,  Green 
&  Co.,  price  $4.80  net).  First  published  in  1889  it  is 
brought  up  to  date  in  successive  editions,  and  is  full  of 
interest  for  the  general  public  as  well  as  for  the  geographer. 
In  the  same  connection  we  may  note  J.  G.  Bartholomew's 
admirable  Atlas  of  the  World's  Commerce  (London:  George 
Newnes,  1907,  price  10s.  6d.),  which  is  of  great  assistance 
in  studying  the  subject  owing  to  its  very  clear  maps  and 
diagrams.  A  smaller  and  cheaper  work,  by  the  same 
author  is  A  School  Economic  Atlas  (Oxford:  University 
Press,  1910,  price  2s.  6d.  net). 

There  are  an  enormous  number  of  small  books  on 
geographical  subjects,  for  these  as  well  as  for  others 
reference  may  be  made  to  a  useful  little  volume  called 
Guide  to  Geographical  Books  and  Appliances,  which  is 
compiled  by  members  of  the  Geographical  Association 
(London:  Geo.  Philip,  1910,  price  5s.).  This  is  especially 
intended  for  teachers,  but  gives  full  descriptions,  with 
critical  notes,  of  a  great  number  of  books.  To  the  list. 
given  there  we  may  add  one  book  which,  though  intended 
for  school  use,  may  be  noted  as  containing  a  great  deal 
of  information  of  the  kind  which  is  just  beginning  to  find 
its  way  into  the  smaller  text-books.  This  is  Unstead  and 
Taylor's  General  and  Regional  Geography  for  Students 
(London:  Geo.  Philip,  1910,  price  6s.).  An  excellent 
practical  book  is  Simmons  and  Richardson's  Introduction 
to  Practical  Geography  (New  York:  The  Macmillan  Co., 
1907,  price  90  cts.). 

Finally,  we  may  note  that  the  Geographical  Journal, 
published  monthly  by  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  in 
London,  and  the  Scottish  Geographical  Magazine,  pub- 
lished monthly  by  the  Royal  Scottish  Geographical  Society 
in  Edinburgh,  both  give  reviews  and  accounts  of  all  im- 
portant geographical  books,  as  they  appear,  with  abstracts 
of  important  articles  and  papers,  as  well  as  publishing 
original  papers.    Both  are  obtainable  at  most  libraries. 


INDEX 


Aab  valley,  57,  07 

Aberdeen,  44 

Abyssal  fauna,  145 

Abysses  of  ocean,  28 

Acacia,  79 

Africa,  climate  of,  91,  100;  explora- 
tion of,  13;  fauna  or,  23,  152; 
forests  of,  120:  position  of,  22; 
slave  trade  in,  236 

Agave,  85. 125 

Ague,  162 

Allanthus,  78 

Aire  gap,  47  (flg.  5),  49.  73 

Alabama,  35 

Alaska,  forests  of,  136;  minerals  of, 
220 

Algiers,  means  of  communication  in, 
240;  rainfall  of,  95;  vegetation  of, 
92 

Allium,  124 

Almonds,  176 

Alnwick,  232 

Aloe,  125 

Alp,  59.  60,  190 

Alpine  plants,  122 

Alpine  race.  190,  192,  199,  206-216 

Alps,  32,  33.  57.  58.  59.  68,  70.  80, 
122.  192.  241 

Amazon,  43,  45 

America,  exploration  of,  14 

America,  North,  climate  of,  101-102; 
fauna  of.  23,  152;  Bora  of,  135- 
142;  glaclatlon  of,  52,  53,  77 
mammals  of,  166;  position  of,  17; 
primitive  means  of  communica- 
tion in,  239-241;  trees  of,  78,  79; 
vegetation  of,  122 

America,  South,  fauna  of,  23 

Anchovies,  149 

Andes,  48 

Anemone,  124 

Annuals.  124,  126,  128,  134 

Anopheles,  162 

Antarctic,  exploration  of.  14 

Anticyclones,  107-110  (ng.  12) 

Anti-trade  winds.  87.  89,  90 

Apes,  155 

Appleby.  232 

Apples.  176.  184 

Apricots,  176 

Aquatic  animals,  144  el  teg. 

Arabs,  178,  180 

Aragon,  200 

Arbroath,  235 

Arbutus.  130.  192 

Arctic,  exploration  of,  14 

Arctogeolc  realm,  152 

Ardennes,  33 


Area  of  low  pressure  In  N.  Atlantic, 

88.  105 
Argentine,  243 
Arizona,  climate  of,  91 
Aryans,  213,  214 
Ash,  139 

Asia,  climate  of,  93,  100;   explora- 
tion  of,    14;  fauna  of,    23,    152; 

position  of,  22 ;  trees  of,  78,  79 
Asia  Minor,  rainfall  of,  86 
Aspen, 138 
Asphodel,  124 
Ass,  166,  177,  244 
Athens,  rainfall  of,  95 
Atlantic,  88,  89,  105 
Atlas  Mountains,  32,  91,  120,  153 
Atmosphere.  20 
Australia,  cattle  and  sheep  of,  243; 

climate  of,  85;  fauna  of,  23,  152; 

minerals  of,  220 
Austria,  people  of,  209 
Badoer,  159 
Balkan     States,     buffalo     In,    178; 

climate  of.  101;  people  of,  209 
Baltic,  105,  106 
Banks  of  Newfoundland,  148 
Barbary,  155 
Barley,  171.  172 
Barrows    in    Scotland,    203,    206, 

207 
Base  level  of  erosion,  30 
Basque,  198.  199 
Baths  of  Leuk,  72 
Bats,  155 
Bear.  159 
Beavers,  158 
Beech,  129 
Beech  woods,  131 
Bees,  181 
Belfast,  235 
Belgium,  people  of,  209 
Berbers.  204 
Berne,  72 
Birch.  132,  136 
Birds  of  Europe,  160 
Biskra,  rainfall  of,  95 
Bison,  166,  240 
Black  rat,  154 
Black  walnut,  79 
Bog  myrtle,  133 
Boulder  clay,  52 
Brachycephallc  race,  202,  208 
Brehm,  quoted,  103,  189 
Bridge  towns,  247 
British  Columbia,  climate  of,  101; 

flora  of.  137 
British  Isles,  birds  of,  160;  climate 

of,  99.  100;  fauna  of.  153;  insects 


«5i 


252 


INDEX 


of.  164;  position  of,  27;  weather 

of.  107, 108 
Brittany,  minerals  of,  225;  people  of, 
192-97,  209;  strawberries  of,  184; 

structure  of ,  33 
Broad-headed  race,  209-217 
Bronze,  206,  207,  220,  221.  222,  223, 

225,  233 
Bronze  Age,  221 
Broom,  130 
Brown  rat,  154 
Buckwheat,  183,  184 
Buffalo,  178 
Cactuses,  10, 138 
California,  climate  of,  85,  91,  101; 

forests  of,  137,  142;  minerals  of, 

220  223 
Cameis,  177,  188,  194.  244 
Canada,  forests  of,  136,  139;  struc- 
ture of,  35;  survey  work  In,  14 
Canadian  Far  West,  116 
Canadian  Shield,  35 
Cape  Colony,  climate  of,  85 
Carboniferous  rocks,  34 
Carcassonne,  246 
Carlisle,  49,  232 
Carnivores,  155 
Carp.  150 

Cascade  Range,  138 
CasiQulare  river,  45 
Castile,   200 

Castilian  language,  198,  199,  200 
Cat,  165. 177 

Catalan  language,  198,  199 
Catalpa,  79 
Cattle,  155,  177,  178,  185,  188,  190, 

241,242,243 
Caucasus,  32,  80 
Cauterets,  67 
Celtic  language.  197;  race,  197,  206, 

209 
Celto-Slavic  race,  206 
Central  Plateau  of  France,  33;  of 

Spain,  33 
Cephalic  Index,  202 
Cetaceans,  155 
Chalk,  34 

Challenger  expedition,  144,  145 
Chamserops,  129 
Chameleon,  161 
Charcoal  as  fuel,  226,  227,  228 
Chestnuts,  139,  193 
Chile,  climate  of,  85 
China,  agriculture  in,  170;  climate 

of,    96;  cultivated    plants    from, 

174;  means  of  communication  in, 

242;  trees  of,  78,  79 
Chiroptera,  155 

Cirques,  62,  63   (fig.  8),  64,65,66 
Cistus,  129 


Citron,  174 

Citrus,  174, 176 

Clams,  146 

Climate,  83  el  sea. 

Clyde  valley,  206,  207 

Coal,  34,  227-234 

Cod,  148 

Congo  forest,  114 

Conifers,   of   America,    136-142;  of 

Europe,   132;  of  mountains,   121 
Coniferous  forests,  132, 136, 137, 138, 

141,  142 
Continental  climate,  102 
Continental  shelf,  27,  146, 147,  148 
Copper,  220,  221,  222,  233 
Corals,  146 
Cork  oak,  129 
Cornwall,  223 
Corries,  62,  64,  65 
Corsica,  people  of,  208;  wild  sheep 

of,  156 
Corsican  pine,  129 
Cotton,  174,  234 
Crabs,  146 
Cranberries,  185 
Crustaceans,  146 
Cucumbers,  176 
Cwms,  62 

Cycle  of  erosion,  30 
Cyclones,  104-110  (figs.  10,  11,  12) 
Cyprus,  locusts  in,  165;  minerals  of, 

221,  222 
Darwin,  Charles,  7,  9. 10 
Date  palm,  129 
Daubensee,  73 
Dauphiny,  209 
Davis,  quoted,  65 
Deciduous  forests,  121, 131, 132, 136, 

139,  141 
Dee,  44 
Deer,  155,  166 

Denmark,  shell-mounds  of,  146 
Deserts,  10,  91,  115,  116,  170,  240 
Devon,  223 
Diatoms,  147 
Dog.  155,  177,  239,  244 
Dolichocephalic  skulls,  202,  203,  204 
Dormice,  158 
Dranse,  42 
Dunfermline,  235 
Durham,  232 
Edinburgh,  94,  246 
Eldart,  44 
Egypt,     fossil     sea-cows     In,     155; 

Neolithic  man  in,  203 
Egyptians,  ancient,  204 
Elba,  230 

Elbow  of  capture,  45 
Elephant,  194,  244 
Elms,  139 


INDEX 


253 


England,  minerals  of,  227;  rivers  of, 
46,  47  (fig.  5);  rocks  of,  36; 
wheat  in,  185 

English  Channel,  107 

Erratic  blocks,  54 

Erzgeblrge,  227 

Etrurla,  223 

Euphrates,  170 

Euraslatlc  race,  208 

Europe,  civilisation  of,  17;  climate 
of,  98-101 ;  effect  of  glacial  period 
on  plants  of,  77-81;  fauna  of,  23, 
152-159;  flora  of,  78;  forests  of, 
92, 119, 130-132;  glacial  period  in. 
52,  53;  mountain  pastures  of,  122; 
plant  formations  of,  154;  position 
of,  22;  reptiles  of,  160;  rodents 
of,  157;  structure  of,  32  (fig.  1), 
33-36. 

Evergreen  oak,  127,  129 

Fbshii;  river,  43  (fig.  4),  44,  47,  49 

Fig.  173 

Fir,  132 

Fish,  145-150;  of  Mediterranean, 
149;  of  North  Sea,  148 

Flax.  173,  183,  187,  235 

Flamingo,  160 

Florida,  77,  139,  141 

Forest  of  Arden,  226 

Forest  of  Dean,  226 

Forests,  78.  113-122,  128,129,  130- 
132,  134,  135,  136-142.  169,  182. 
191.  192,  211,  212.  215.  216,  221, 
226.  227.  229 

Fowl,  181,  183 

Foxes,  155 

France,  civilisation  of.  225;  climate 
of,  93;  people  of,  209:  structure 
of,  224;  trees  of,  118;  use  of 
water  power  In,  230:  wheat  In,  186 

French  language,  193 

Freshwater  fish,  149,  150 

Galicia,  200,  201,  223 

Garden-culture,  176 

Garlic,  173, 176 

Garwood,  quoted,  65,  68  (flg.  9) 

Geese,  181 

Geldle  burn,  44,  49 

Gemmi  Pass.  72-74 

Gemmlwand,  72 

Genet,  159 

Geneva,  lake  of,  193 

Genoa,  95 

Geography,  definition  of,  19 

Georgia,  35 

Germanic  race.  198,  210 

German  language,  193 

Germany,  cattle  of.  178;  minerals  of, 
227:  people  of.  204,  209.  215,  218 

Gibraltar.  94,  155 


Glacial  shelves,  59  (fig.  6),  60  (fig.  7). 

61,  122 
Glaciers,  51,  57,  73 
Gledltschla,  79 
Gloucestershire,  226 
Gnats,  161,  162 
Goats,  130,  178,  179,  188 
Oradin  de  confluence,  58 
Grasshopper,  165 
Grasslands,  114-120,  133 
Great    Britain,    glaciatlon    of,    64; 

minerals  of,  231;  people  of,  202, 

203,    204,    209;    rainfall    of,    48; 

structure  of,  33 
Great  Plains,  138 

Greece,  cattle  in,  178;  people  of,  205 
Greenland,  238 
Guide-books,  14 
Gulf  Of  Mexico,  77,  102 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  139 
Gulf  Stream,  148 
Hamster,  158 
Hanging  valleys,  58,  61 
Hartz  Mountains,  227 
Heat  equator,  87 
Heath,  130,  192 
Heather,  133 
Hedgehogs,  155,  159 
Highlands  of  Scotland,  62,  200,  211 
Himalayas,  32,  33 
Hlnxman,  L..  quoted,  44 
Holm  oak,  127,  129 
Honey  locust,  79 
Horse,  155,  177,  188,  244 
Humber,  46 
Humboldt,  1,  2 
Hungarian  plain,  133,  192 
Hungary,  169 
Hyacinth.  124 
Hydrosphere,  20,  21 
Ibeeian  peninsula,  peoples  of,  197, 

198  (fig.  13),  199,  205,  218 
Iberian  race,  200,  205 
Ibis,  160 
Ice,  51  et  sea. 
Ice  Age,  79 

Iceland,  weather  of,  110  (flg.  12) 
India,   agriculture   In,  170:   climate 

of,    96;  cultivated    plants    from, 

174;  fauna  of,  153 
Insectlvores,  155 
Insects,  161 
Inverness,  44 
Iron,  225-231,  233 
Isobars,  104  (fig.  10) 
Italy,  cattle  In,  178;  people  of,  205, 

208;  trees  of,  118;  vogetatlon  of, 

92 
Japan,  fauna  of,  153;  means  of  com- 
munication In.  242, 243 ;  trees  of,  78 


254 


INDEX 


Junction  step,  58 

Juniper,  133 

Kamks,  52 

Kirghiz,  188 

Kandersteg,  72 

Labrador,  climate  of,  102;  current, 

148;  vegetation  of,  136,  141 
Lac  de  Gaube,  67 
Laemmern  glacier,  73,  74 
Lancashire,  232,  234 
Lancaster,  232 
Land  animals,  distribution  of,  150 

el  seq. 
Land,  area  of,  21 
Land  hemisphere,  21 
Languedoc,  200 
Langue  d'oc,  198  (flg.  13),  199 
Langue  d'oil,  198  (flg.  13),  199 
Lapland,  239 
Larch,  132,  136 
Laurel,  130 

Lauterbrunnen  valley,  57,  60  (flg.  7) 
Lavender,  130 
Lemmings,  158 
Lemon,  126,  174 
Lesser  Celandine,  123 
Leukerbad,  73 
Libyans,  204 
Lime,  174 
Limes,  139 

Lincolnshire,  Wolds  of,  46 
Linen  industry,  235 
Liquldamber,  140 
Lithosphere,  20,  21 
Littoral  fauna,  145 
Lizards,  161 
Llama,  244 
Lobsters,  146 
Locust,  164,  165 
Loire,  187,  223,  224 
Lombards,  211 
London,  94,  95,  99,  248 
London  basin,  33 
Longheaded  races,  203,  208,  217 
Low  pressure  area  in  N.  Atlantic, 

88,  105 
Lynx,  159 
Mackerel,  149 
Mackinder,  quoted,  238 
Maderanertal,  68  (flg.  9) 
Magnolias,  140 
Maize,  101,  174,  175 
Malaria,  161.  162 
Maples,  139 

Maquis,  119,  120.  128,  179 
Maritime  climate,  85,  90, 101 
Maritime  pine,  129 
Marmosets,  158 
Marseilles,  224 
Marsupials,  155 


Marten.  159 

Mature  rivers,  30,  38  (flg.  3),  40,  56 

Mediterranean  region,  cattle  in,  177; 
civilisation  of,  170;  climate  of, 
85-96;  fauna  of,  159;  fishes  of, 
149,  palms  In,  129;  reptiles  of, 
160;  vegetation  of,  123-130 

Mediterranean  race,  191,  198,  199, 
204,  206,  208.  211-218 

Melrlngen,  57,  67 

Mesopotamia,  96,  170,  172 

Mexico,  91,  138 

Mice,  155,  158 

Milan,  247 

Millet,  173 

Moles,  155,  159 

Monkeys,  113,  155 

Monotremes,  155 

Monsoon  countries,  96,  97,  98 

Monsoon  winds,  102 

Moors  and  heaths,  133 

Montrose,  235 

Mosquitoes,  161,  162 

Moufflon,  156 

Mountain  chains,  origin  of,  31-37 

Mountain  pines,  121 

Mulberry,  174 

Mule,  177,  244 

Musk-ox,  166 

Mussels,  146 

Myres,  quoted,  212,  237 

Myrtle,  130 

Naples,  95 

Narcissus,  124 

Negritos,  114 

Neolithic  man,  201,  202,  203,  204 

Newcastle-on-Tyne,   49,   247 

New  England  States,  139 

Newfoundland,  148,  149,  238 

Nice,  95 

Niger,  45 

Nordic  race,  192,  210,  211,  212,  213, 
215,216 

Normal  erosion,  51 

North    America.    See    America, 
North 

North  Pole,  21 

North  Sea,  106,  148,  149 

Norway,  people  of,  209 

Nuts,  176 

Oaks,  139 

Oak  woods,  131,  178 

Oats,  172,  186 

Oceans,  area  of,  21 

Olive,  126,  127.  171,  172 

Orange,  126,  174 

Origin  of  Species,  7. 11 

Orinoco,  45 

Ouse,  46 

Ox,  172 


INDEX 


Z55 


Oysters,  146 

PALmtBcnc  region,  154 

Palaeolithic  man,  201,  206 

Parts,  94,  95,  99 

Paris  basin,  33,  36 

Passes,  70-75 

Pastoral  Industries,  135,  177 

Pastoral  nomadism,  179,  180,  189 

Pasture  lands,  133,  192 

Pastures,  on  mountains,  69  (flg.  6), 

60  (fig.  7),  61,  122 
Patagonia,  48 
Peach,  174.  176 
Pears.  176.  184 
Peat,  133 
Pelagic  fauna,  145 
Peiasgians,  205 
Pelican,  160 
Penck,  quoted,  212 
Peneplain,  48 
Pennlnes,  46,  49 
Persia,  climate  of,  96 
Philippines.  114 
Phllippaon,  quoted,  177 
Phoenicians,  223 
Physiological  drought,  121 
Pigeons.  181 
Pigmies,  114 
Pigs,  155 
Pines,  132 
Pistachio,  176 
Placental  mammals,  23 
Plain  of  Lombardy,  174 
Plane,  79 

Plant  formations,  115, 116 
Platanus,  79 
Pleistocene,  52,  57 
Plough  culture,  175 
Plums,  176.  184 
Pomegranates,  126,  176 
Poplars,  136 
Porcupines,  168 

Portugal,  climate  of,  89:  rainfall  of  ,92 
Portuguese,  198,  199.  201 
Potato,  175,  186 
Praying  mantis,  164 
Prickly  pear.  85.  125.  176 
Primary  epoch,  34,  36,  36 
Primates,  155 
Prongbuck,  166 

Profiles  of  rivers,  38  (figs.  2,  3),  40 
Pulse,  173 

Pyrenees.  31,  32,  67,  80.  199.  200 
Rabbits,  158 
Races  of  Europe,  197,  249 
Raccoons,  153 
Railways,  244 
Rain  forest,  141,  142 
Rain-shadow,  138,  185 
Rats,  156, 


Reindeer,  166,  239,  244 

Rhine,  73,  74,  158,  193 

Rhone  valley,  in  France,  182,  224; 
In  Switzerland,  42,  72,  73,  74,  189. 
190,  193 

Ripley,  quoted,  197,  198,  199,  210 

Rltter,  7,  8 

River-capture,  42-49 

Roads,  241,  242 

Roblnla,  79 

Rocky/Mountains,  102,  120,  138 

Rodents,  155,  156 

Rosemary,  130 

Round-headed  race,  206,  207 

Round  skulls,  202,  206 

Running-water,'  Its  effect,  28,  37  et 
seq. 

Russia,  minerals  of,  228;  people  of, 
209 

Rye,  172,  186 

Sage-brush,  138 

Sahara,  23,  86,  120,  240 

Saiga  antelope,  154 

Salmon,  149,  150 

Saone  valley,  209 

Saracens,  200 

Sardines,  149 

Sardinia,  208 

Savoy,  209 

Scandinavia,  barley  in,  172;  berries 
In,  172;  minerals  of,  228;  people 
of,  204,  209,  210:  structure  of,  33; 
weather  of,  110  (flg.  12), 

Scotland,  glaclatlon  of,  52,  53,  62,  71 ; 
Highlands  of,  62,  200;  linen  In- 
dustry In,  235;  Neolithic  man 
In,  203.  206 

Scrub,  119,  128.  135,  137,  169,  191 

Sea-cows,  155 

Seals,  145 

Sea-urchins,  146 

Secondary  period,  34,  35,  36 

Seine,  224 

Sequoia,  136 

Sergi,  quoted,  202,  204,  207 

Sesame,  173 

Sharl  river,  45 

Sheep,  155.  178.  179.  188,  243 

Shell-flsb,  146 

Shrews,  155,  159 

Sicily,  203.  208 

Sierra  Nevada,  138 

Silkworms.  174,  181 

Silver  fir,  132 

Slmplon  Pass,  70,  71 

Slon.   193 

Skunks,  153 

Slave  trade,  236 

Sledges,  239 

Sleeping  sickness,  161,  103 


256 


INDEX 


Snowdrop,  123 

Snow-shoes,  239 

Sophora,  79 

South  America,  rodents,  of,  156 

South  Pole,  21 

Spain,  cattle  In,  177;  languages  of, 

199;  minerals  of,  230;  people  of, 

199,  208;  rainfall  of,  86;  structure 

of,  33,  224;  transhumance  In,  179 
Spey,  44 
Sponges,  146 
Spruce,  132,  136 
Squirrels.  155,  158 
Steam,  244 
Step  arrangement  In  Alpine  valleys, 

67-69  (fig.  9) 
Steppes,  climate  of,  157;   fauna  of, 

154,  157;  of  Asia,  135,  169,  170; 

of  Europe,  135;  of  Hungary,  133; 

of  Russia,  133;  peoples  of,  192 
St.  Gothard  Pass,  70 
St.  Lawrence,  35 
Stoat,  159 

Stone  Age,  201,  221,  222 
Stone  pine,  129 
Strawberries,  184 
Sturgeon,  150 
Sugar  beet,  174,  186 
Sugar  cane,  174 
Sudan,  116,  120 
Switzerland,  cattle  in,  178;  pastoral 

life  in,  189 
Syria,  165 
Tertiary   period,  31   (fig.   1),  32, 

34,  36 
Teutonic  race,  192,  210,  218 
Theodule  Pass,  71 
Thun,  lake  of,  72 
Tibet,  244 
Tigris,  170 

Tin,  222,  223,  224,  225 
Tobacco,  175 

Torrents,  characters  of,  37-39 
Trade  winds,  84,  87,  88,  89 
Trails,  240,  241 
Transhumance,  179,  189 
Tree  of  Heaven,  78 
Tropical  forest,  120,  131,  169 
Tsetse  flies,  161 
Tulip,  124 

Tundra,   132,   136,    164,   169,   239 
Tunny,  149 
Turkey,  181 
Tyne  gap,  47  (.as.  5),  49,  73 


Tyrol,  62 

Uganda,  163 

Ungulates,  165,  156,  157 

United  States,  cotton  of,  234;  lora 
of,  140,  141;  numbers  of  hoofed 
animals  In,  243,  244;  people  of, 
217;  rainfall  of,  102;  structure  of, 
35, 36;  survey  work  In,  14;  trees  of, 
78,  79;  weather  of,  107 

U-shaped  valleys,  57,  61,  64 

Vienna,  temperature  of,  99 

Vllaine,  223 

Vine,  126,  127,  171,  172,  173.  183, 
187,  190 

Visp,  42 

Voles,  158 

V-shaped  valleys,  55 

Wales,  54,  197,  200 

Waterfalls,  40,  41,  56,  58,  60 

Water  hemisphere,  21 

Water  power,  58,  69,  230 

Watersheds,  shifting  of,  47 

Water  transport,  236-238 

Weald,  226 

Weasel,  159 

Weather,  103  et  sea. 

Weathering,  46,  51 

Wellingtonia,  136 

Welsh,  211 

Weymouth  pine,  139 

Whales,  145 

Wheat,  126,  138.  139,  171. 172, 182. 
183,  185 

Whlteflsh,  150 

Whortleberries,  185 

Wild  boar,  156 

Wild  cat,  159 

Wild  horse,  166 

Wild  sheep,  156,  166 

Willows,  136 

Wine,  183,  187,  190 

Winter  gulf  of  warmth,  206 

Wood  anemone,  123 

Woodland,  115,  116;  see  also  Forests 

Wolf.  159 

Wolverene,  159 

Yak,  244 

Yellow  fever,  161 

York   232 

Yorkshire,  46,  47  (fig.  5),  232 

Young  rivers,  30,  40,  56 

Yurt,  189 

Zooqeoorapiiical  regions,  151-154 


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85.  SEX.  By  J.  Arthur  Thompson  and  Patrick  Geddes,  joint  authors 
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90.  CHEMISTRY.  By  Raphael  Meldola,  F.  R.  S.,  Professor  of  Chem- 
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53.  ELECTRICITY.  By  Gisbert  Kapp,  Professor  of  Electrical  En- 
gineering, University  of  Birmingham. 

54.  THE  MAKING  OF  THE  EARTH.  By  J.  W.  Gregory,  Professor  of 
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influence  upon  the  globe. 

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Hunterian  Professor,  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  London.  Shows 
how  the  human  body  developed. 

74.  NERVES.  By  David  Fraser  Harris,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Physi- 
ology, Dalhousie  University,  Halifax.  Explains  in  non-technical 
language  the  place  and  powers  of  the  nervous  system. 

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ercion of  opinion  is  a  mistake. 

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of  the  few  authorities  on  this  subject  compares  all  the  religions  to 
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other  human  agency. 

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Discusses  what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong,  and  the  whys  and  where- 
fores. 

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popular  work  of  the  highest  order.  Will  be  profitable  to  anybody 
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naturally  into  that  of  the  New  Testament. 

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the  origins  of  the  New  Testament. 

SOCIAL  SCIENCE. 


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wherever  else  his  presence  has  been  or  is  important. 

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liams,  Chairman,  Executive  Committee,  International  Co-opera- 
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profit-sharing,  and  gives  details  of  the  arrangements  now  in  force  in 
many  of  the  great  industries. 

99.  POLITICAL  THOUGHT:  THE  UTILITARIANS.  FROM  BENT- 
HAM  TO  J.  S.  MILL.    By  William  L.  P.  Davidson. 

98.  POLITICAL  THOUGHT:  FROM  HERBERT  SPENCER  TO  THE 
PRESENT  DAY.    By  Ernest  Barker,  M.  A. 

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Economy  at  Cambridge.  The  meaning,  measurement,  distribution, 
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and  disputes,  and  some  proposals  of  remedy  or  relief. 


80.    COMMON-SENSE  IN  LAW.    By  Prof.  Paul  Vinogradoff,  D.  C.  L., 

LL.  D.  Social  and  Legal  Rules — Legal  Rights  and  Duties — Facts 
and  Acts  in  Law — Legislation — Custom — Judicial  Precedents — Equity 
— The  Law  of  Nature. 

49.    ELEMENTS  OF  POLITICAL  ECONOMY.    By  S.   J.  Chapman, 

Professor  of  Political  Economy  and  Dean  of  Faculty  of  Commerce 
and  Administration,  University  of  Manchester. 

11.  THE  SCIENCE  OF  WEALTH.  By  J.  A.  Hobson,  author  of  "Prob- 
lems of  Poverty."  A  study  of  the  structure  and  working  of  the  modern 
business  world. 

1.  PARLIAMENT.  ITS  HISTORY,  CONSTITUTION,  AND  PRAC- 
TICE.   By  Sir  Courtenay  P.  Ilbert,  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

16.  LIBERALISM.  By  Prof.  L.  T.  Hobhouse,  author  of  "Democracy  and 
Reaction."  A  masterly  philosophical  and  historical  review  of  the  subject. 

5.  THE  STOCK  EXCHANGE.  By  F.  W.  Hirst,  Editor  of  the  London 
Economist.  Reveals  to  the  non-financial  mind  the  facts  about  invest- 
ment, speculation,  and  the  other  terms  which  the  title  suggests. 

10.  THE  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT.  By  J.  Ramsay  Maedonald,  Chair- 
man of  the  British  Labor  Party. 

28.  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  INDUSTRY.  By  D.  H.  MacGregor,  Professor 
of  Political  Economy,  University  of  Leeds.  An  outline  of  the  recent 
changes  that  have  given  us  the  present  conditions  of  the  working  classes 
and  the  principles  involved. 

29.  ELEMENTS  OF  ENGLISH  LAW.  By  W.  M.  Geldart,  Vinerian 
Professor  of  English  Law,  Oxford.  A  simple  statement  of  the  basic 
principles  of  the  English  legal  system  on  which  that  of  the  United 
States  is  based. 

32.  THE  SCHOOL:  AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  EDU- 
CATION. By  J.  J.  Findlay,  Professor  of  Education,  Manchester. 
Presents  the  history,  the  psychological  basis,  and  the  theory  of  the 
school  with  a  rare  power  of  summary  and  suggestion. 

6.  IRISH  NATIONALITY.  By  Mrs.  J.  R.  Green.  A  brilliant  account 
of  the  genius  and  mission  of  the  Irish  people.  "An  entrancing  work, 
and  I  would  advise  every  one  with  a  drop  of  Irish  blood  in  his  veins 
or  a  vein  of  Irish  sympathy  in  his  heart  to  read  it." — New  Yot\  Times' 
Review. 


GENERAL  HISTORY  AND  GEOGRAPHY. 

102.  SERBIA.  By  L.  F.  Waring,  with  preface  by  J.  M.  Jovanovikh, 
Serbian  Minister  to  Great  Britain.  The  main  outlines  of  Serbian 
history,  with  special  emphasis  on  the  immediate  causes  of  the  war, 
and  the  question  which  will  be  of  greatest  importance  in  the  after- 
the-war  settlement. 

33.  THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND.  By  A.  F.  Pollard,  Professor  of 
English  History,  University  of  London. 

95.  BELGIUM.  By  R.  C.  K.  Ensor,  Sometime  Scholar  of  Balliol  College. 
The  geographical,  linguistic,  historical,  artistic  and  literary  associa- 
tions. 

100.  POLAND.  By  J.  Alison  Phillips,  University  of  Dublin.  The  history 
of  Poland  with  special  emphasis  upon  the  Polish  qustion  of  the  pre- 
sent day. 

34.  CANADA.    By  A.  G.  Bradley. 

72.    GERMANY  OF  TO-DAY.    By  Charles  Tower. 

78.  LATIN  AMERICA.  By  William  R.  Shepherd,  Professor  of  His. 
tory,  Columbia.  With  maps.  The  historical,  artistic,  and  commercial 
development  of  the  Central  South  American  republics. 

18.  THE  OPENING  UP  OF  AFRICA.    By  Sir  H.  H.  Johnston. 

19.  THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  CHINA.  By  H.  A.  Giles,  Professor  of 
Chinese,  Cambridge. 

36.  PEOPLES  AND  PROBLEMS  OF  INDIA.  By  Sir  T.  W.  Holderness, 
"The  best  small  treatise  dealing  with  the  range  of  subjects  fairly  in- 
dicated by  the  title."—  The  Dial. 

26.  THE  DAWN  OF  HISTORY.  By  J.  L.  Myers,  Professor  of  Ancient 
History,  Oxford. 

92.  THE  ANCIENT  EAST.  By  D.  G.  Hogarth,  M.  A.,  F.  B.  A.,  F.  S.  A., 
Connects  with  Prof.  Myers's  "Dawn  of  History"  (No.  26)  at  about 
1000  B.  C.  and  reviews  the  history  of  Assyria,  Babylon,  Cilicia,  Persia 
and  Macedon. 

30.    ROME.    By  W.  Warde  Fowler,  author  of  "Social  Life  at  Rome,"  etc. 

13.    MEDIEVAL  EUROPE.    By  H.  W.  C.  Davis.  Fellow  at  Balliol  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  author  of  "Charlemagne,"  etc. 
3.    THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.    By  Hilaire  Belloc. 

57.  NAPOLEON,  By  H.  A.  L.  Fisher,  Vice-Chancellor  of  Sheffield  Uni- 
versity.   Author  of  "The  Republican  Tradition  in  Europe." 

20.  HISTORY  OF  OUR  TIME.  (1885-1911).    By  C.  P.  Gooch. 

22.  THE  PAPACY  AND  MODERN  TIMES.  By  ReT.  William  Barry, 
D.  D.,  author  of  "The  Papal  Monarchy,"  etc.  The  story  of  the  rise  and 
fell  of  the  Temporal  Power. 


4.    A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  WAR  AND  PEACE.    By  G.  H.  Perm, 

author  of  "Russia  in  Revolution,"  etc. 

94.  THE  NAVY  AND  SEA  POWER.  By  David  Hannay,  author  of  "Short 
History  of  the  Royal  Navy,"  etc.  A  brief  history  of  the  navies,  sea 
Power,  and  ship  growth  of  all  nations,  including  the  rise  and  decline 
of  America  on  the  sea,  and  explaining  the  present  British  supremacy. 
8.  POLAR  EXPLORATION.  By  Dr.  W.  S.  Bruce,  Leader  of  the 
"Scotia"  expedition.    Emphasizes  the  results  of  the  expeditions. 

51.  MASTER  MARINERS.  By  John  R.  Spears,  author  of  "The  His- 
tory  of  Our  Navy,"  etc.  A  history  of  sea  craft  adventure  from  the 
earliest  times. 

86.    EXPLORATION  OF  THE  ALPS.    By  Arnold  Lunn,  M.  A. 
7.    MODERN  GEOGRAPHY.    By  Dr.  Marion  Newbigin.    Shows  the  re- 
lation of  physical  features  to  living  things  and  to  some  of  the  chief  in- 
stitutions of  civilization. 

76.  THE  OCEAN.  A  GENERAL  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  SCIENCE  OF 
THE  SEA.  By  Sir  John  Murray ,;K.  C.  B.,  Naturalist  H.  M.  S.  "Chal- 
lenger," 1872-1876,  joint  author  of  "The  Depths  of  the  Ocean,"  etc. 

84.  THE  GROWTH  OF  EUROPE.  By  Granville  Cole,  Professor  of 
Geology,  Royal  College  of  Science,  Ireland.  A  study  of  the  geology 
and  physical  geography  in  connection  with  the  political  geography. 

AMERICAN  HISTORY. 


47.  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD  (1607-1766).  By  Charles  McLean  An- 
drews, Professor  of  American  History,  Yale. 

82.  THE  WARS  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA  (1763-1815). 
By  Theodore  C.  Smith,  Professor  of  American  History,  Williams 
College.  A  history  of  the  period,  with  especial  emphasis  on  The  Re- 
volution and  The  War  of  1812. 

67.  FROM  JEFFERSON  TO  LINCOLN  (1815-1860).  By  William  Mac- 
Donald.  Professor  of  History,  Brown  University.  The  author  makes 
the  history  of  this  period  circulate  about  constitutional  ideas  and  slavery 
sentiment. 

25.  THE  CIVIL  WAR  (1854-1865).  By  Frederick  L.  Paxson,  Professor 
of  American  History,  University  of  Wisconsin. 

69.  RECONSTRUCTION  AND  UNION  (1865-1912).  By  Paul  Leland 
Haworth.    A  History  of  the  United  States  in  our  own  times. 

OTHER  VOLUMES  IN  PREPARATION 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 
19  Wert  44th  Street  New  York 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  '-st  date  stamped  below 


m  3   tc 
J^  2  o  mi 

20    1931 


OCl  1  0  t935 


APR  9    1950 


D£ 


OK  6      I93| 


■i',0    tf 


*93? 


DEC  4     1933 


'orm  L-9-15m-ll,'27 


-  IT42      Nev/h3  tr in   -_ 
Modern  geography . 


:  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILI 


A      000135179    o 


